The lessons of Seoul

South Korea's flirtation with anarchy, arising from the strikes that began on Dec. 26, is no longer a danger. The strikes and street demonstrations have been losing steam through falling support from a public that values order and economic stability more than prolonged paralysis. This was equivalent to a break in a high-grade fever. Now for the cure.

President Kim Young-sam yesterday met opposition leaders in a development that was actually a politically astute move, not the climb-down it had been described as by his opponents. This act, even if it did not eventually treat the industrial malaise, showed that the President had control of the situation. He had said from the outset -- come street violence or billions of dollars in lost production -- that he was not going to change the labor and national security laws which had started the protest. Korea needed those laws to deregulate labor to execute its second wave of industrialism.

Kim will be proved right in good time. That being the case, he could have achieved two things by agreeing to meet the opposition after ascertaining that the strikes had been broken. The concessions Kim made Tuesday were not insubstantial. Two laws will be debated again in the National Assembly. Arrest orders for key union leaders were stayed.

But a closer examination may show that the opposition was cheered more for the security law being offered for discussion than the airing of the labor legislation. The former, meant to strengthen the hand of the Agency for National Security Planning in combating North Korean subversion, is the kind of law that fascinates Koreans. As for the latter, the negative reaction of two umbrella unions engaged in strikes presents a more accurate portrayal of how events might unfold in the coming days. It's leaders said the presidential offer fell short of their demand for a repeal. The threat of renewed sustained strikes is always present, but the energy has largely been spent.

The parameters of the debate is now the issue. If Kim leaves sufficient leeway for subsidiary legislation to be attached to the main law, the unions can be persuaded that it is the best deal possible. This can be achieved at not too high a cost. Workers need guarantees that employers will not be trigger-happy in using the new law to sack "redundant" workers.

Although the laws have the support of most Koreans, their manner of passage (virtually by stealth at a dawn session of parliament when opposition members were asleep) offended notions of a fair-deal. This has been a lesson on how not to make a mess of winning public acceptance for a sensible legislative program.

-- The Straits Times, Singapore