Avoid nationalism to maintain growth: Korean political scientist

On Thursday, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Korea (SCCK) held the monthly “Business+ Forum,” at Lotte Hotel Seoul in central Seoul, with representatives from 17 foreign chambers in Korea.

Lyu Jae-won, left, executive vice president for trade-investment data at Kotra, speaks during the monthly ″Business+ Forum,″ which marked its first anniversary, on Thursday at Lotte Hotel Seoul in central Seoul. [KOTRA]

In order to maintain the growth of the past five decades, Korea must not fall into the trap of nationalism and geopolitics amid the slowing global economy, one political scientist argues.

On Thursday, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Korea (SCCK) held the monthly “Business+ Forum,” at Lotte Hotel Seoul in central Seoul, with representatives from 17 foreign chambers in Korea.

This month’s Business+ Forum, which marked the event’s first anniversary, was themed "Secrets of Korean economic miracle and its future prospect."

Hahm Chai-bong, director of the Institute of Korean Studies, was featured as the keynote speaker to discuss the historical economic development in the Northeast Asian region.

Hahm argued that “pragmatic leadership” is what turned Korea, a country that once was one of the world’s poorest nations, into the tenth-largest economy in the world.

“The magnitude of the change that we experienced is just astonishing,” said Hahm, emphasizing that establishing trading relations with neighboring economies under the liberal world order led to a massive economic takeoff for Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan.

However, “we have rising nationalism in all of our countries, South Korea included,” which may undermine the region’s strong economic ties and therefore its growth, said Hahm.

“The less we talk about regional integration, trade and liberal international order, the less prosperity we will have,” Hahm added.

The Thursday event had about 70 attendees, including Lyu Jae-won, the executive vice president for trade-investment data at Kotra, and Grace Oh, SCCK chairperson, as well as representatives from embassies, foreign businesses and foreign chambers of commerce in Korea.

The world is suffering high inflation "due to the geopolitical issues caused by wars, disputes and pandemic,” said Lyu, emphasizing that coming together as an international community is the key to overcoming such hardships.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]