Overcome Peak Korea through innovation

We hope it will revitalize the country regardless of the results of the April election.

The new year has begun. But Korea faces many uphill battles ahead. One of them is the alarming low birth rate which plunged to 0.72 last year. The ominous population decline will trigger unprecedented crises in the number of school-year children, military conscripts and the working population.

The swelling government debts sound another alarm. The total debt of the country, including that of households, companies and government, is estimated to have surpassed 6,000 trillion won ($4.62 trillion) last year, nearly tripling the GDP. The application for the debt-workout program by Taeyoung E&C, a major construction company, is just the tip of the iceberg, pointing to the volatile liquidity crisis in the construction sector. Foreign media outlets report that the Korean economy has reached a peak.

The population and debt crises were warned beforehand. But political circles’ response was lethargic. They have never had a head-to-head meeting to solve the problem. Last year, President Yoon Suk Yeol gave the people the hope that his administration could overcome such challenges, after he pledged to succeed with labor, pension and education reforms. But all of them are stagnant. In addition, the core medical departments suffer shortages of doctors, illegal financing is rampant and drugs are spreading fast across our society. The incompetency of the ruling front and the irresponsibility of the opposition cannot be pardoned. The clock is ticking.

In the April 10 parliamentary election, political parties, conservative or liberal, will receive a strict judgment on their never-ending political fights for their own sake. If they refuse to change, voters will punish them through their votes to change our society. That’s democracy.

External conditions are harsh, too. The standoff between the two leagues of democracies and autocracies is growing fiercer than ever. Against such a backdrop, North Korea is bent on ratcheting up the level of tension on the Korean Peninsula with its nuclear weapons. The government must sternly deal with the threat by reinforcing nuclear deterrence and augmenting tripartite security cooperation with Uncle Sam and Japan. The government must also demonstrate wisdom to manage Korea’s relations with China, starting with its hosting of a Korea-China-Japan summit as early as possible, not to mention thoroughly preparing for the possibility of Donald Trump winning the November election.

Korea has weathered countless crises at home and abroad with strong determination. It must do so through change and innovation this time. The government must end populism once and for all. We hope it will revitalize the country regardless of the results of the April election. Only then can Korea fly in the Year of the Dragon.