Learning from King Sejong the Great

President Yoon must make his remaining time in office worthwhile by learning from King Sejong in
drawing up policies and making decisions.

Chung Un-chanThe author, a former prime minister and former president of Seoul National University,is the chairman of the Korea Institute for Shared Growth. The government has walked back on its plan to ban direct online purchases of 80 types of foreign products without the Korea Certification (KC) safety mark just three days after its announcement. The move came without going through policy coordination with the governing People Power Party (PPP) or tapping public opinion on its ramifications.

I won’t be the only one experiencing déjà vu on policy flip-flops under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. The plan to increase the medical school enrollment quota, which affected the outcome of the parliamentary election in April, had been pressed in the same manner. The policy aimed at increasing medical doctors to meet demand a decade later came out without gauging views from the party or concerning parties.

President Yoon went on a tour around the country to hold more than 20 rounds of town hall meetings ahead of the legislative election. His stunt only stoked controversy over election law violations for benefiting PPP candidates and did little to relieve hardships in public lives through visionary and workable policies and strategies. Yoon vowed to connect more with the people after the PPP’s landslide defeat in the April 10 election. But his government continues to stumble on policymaking based on half-baked ideas.

Yoon demanded more discretion in policymaking from government ministers after the fiasco with direct cross-border online shopping. We hear grumbles even from the PPP. The repeated mistakes suggest flaws in the policymaking process and the president’s questionable leadership. I personally hope Yoon and his government borrow wisdom from King Sejong the Great during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).

The king is credited for numerous historic achievements — the creation of the Korean alphabet, or hangul, the advance in science and technology, and the fortification of borderlines. On the economic front, he modernized the tax code and farming techniques. Since its founding, Joseon collected tax based on crop damage and yield. Inspectors went around to assess farming based on the output and adjusted tax accordingly. Since the tax relied on the inspector, corruption inevitably followed. The cost of estimating each farm’s output was also burdensome. In many cases, poor farmers were levied with greater taxes than the rich landlords.

To ease the painful burden on poor farmers, King Sejong came up with the idea of a uniform tax system dubbed gongbeop, under which taxes were determined by the grades of land fertility and productivity. Tax rates and categories were specified in law to leave little room for arbitrary judgment and corruption. Taxation became fairer based on crop conditions.

The revolutionary tax system did not please the court at the time. Prime Minister Hwang Hui opposed the tax scheme from the beginning until the design was completed 10 years later. Yet the king continued to debate over the tax system with the prime minister for 15 years and tapped public opinion on it. The biggest referendum in Joseon history was conducted for five months from March 1430 across the country. About 170,000 people voted, of which 98,000 approved of the novel system. The king tested out the system in different regions and made numerous revisions to the original plan. It took 25 years for the new tax system to be implemented across the country after the trial period.

Farm revolution is another example of King Sejong’s marvelous policy ideas. Joseon succeeded the farming manual of Goryeo which followed the methods of China. The text compiled farming techniques practiced in northern parts of China. But the climate and soil differed greatly between the two countries, not to mention the output scale.

King Sejong published “Nongsa Jilseol” (Frank Talk on Farming) after collecting farming knowhow of veteran and successful farmers across the nation.

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office, April 16. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The king personally practiced the farming techniques on a field he created within the royal palace. After confirming the efficacy, he distributed the handbook to all farmers across the country. The king’s devotion to astronomy and science also stemmed from his eagerness to bolster the productivity of agriculture, the core industry in the feudal period. As a result, farming output radically increased compared to the previous Goryeo era.

Because the king’s tax system was well-planned and went through a scrupulous review process, it was upheld as the foundation of the tax system of the 500-year Joseon kingdom. Farm productivity increased by four times through Sejong’s farming method because it was painstakingly studied before being introduced.

All new policies demand thorough study on the efficacy and must be prudently administered. The three years left in Yoon’s term are not long. He must make his remaining time in office worthwhile by learning from Sejong in drawing up policies and making decisions.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.