By Kim Ji-soo
Those who know life say that, a lot of the times, it is all about timing. President Lee Myung-bak must have had this in mind when he spoke officially about a need to look into adopting a unification tax.
Against the background of one of the tersest tensions between the two Koreas in the past decade or so due to the March 26 sinking of the South Korean frigate Cheonan, the President put forth the possible adoption of a unification tax to the public.
Dressed in traditional Korean attire with the completely renovated Gwanghwamun in the background, the President presented a three-stage unification process―peace and denuclearization, economic integration and an eventual “community of the Korean nation.”
It was a bold, sudden and new proposal coming as the country marked the 65th anniversary of its liberation from Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945).
The unification tax seemed bold because the President had been considered more hard line toward North Korea than his predecessors ― the late former Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, the architect and successor of the so-called “Sunshine Policy” of actively engaging North Korea.
It was not that President Lee is without a North Korea policy. Ever since taking office in February 2008, the gist of North Korea policy was that South Korea will help the nation achieve per capita income of $3,000 if the North gives up its nuclear ambition.
But with the North seemingly adamant on pursuing a nuclear program, the idea of a reunification between the two Koreas seems very distant.
Also the South Korean government already has an annual fund of 1 trillion won dedicated to inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation projects.
In his column written in the liberal Hankyoreh, the former Unification Minister Lee Jong-Seok mentioned that since the start of the Lee administration, only small portions of that fund have been used, in some cases like in the year 2009, only 8.6 percent.
Against such a track record of the current administration it’s only natural that the public wonders why at this moment the nation’s chief executive suddenly brought up publicly and officially a need to discuss the issue of a unification tax.
The political parties have immediately begun speculating what the President’s intention was behind the proposal.
Its suddenness has prompted both the expert and lay North Korea watchers to immediately link the poor health of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to the President’s proposal to concoct a cocktail speculating that the South was surmising a sudden decline of the North.
The 68-year-old suffered a stroke in the summer of 2008. Ever since then, his health has been one of the most-watched situations, and reports say that he is suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure. He is also reportedly believed to receive kidney dialysis once every two weeks.
To forestall any far-flung theories, the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae, explained that the proposal for the unification tax will not translate into an immediate government plan to collect additional taxes from the public.
Presidential spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung expanded that the President made the remark on unification tax because the country should get ready for unification rather than just address the current status quo between the two Koreas.
And that the administration will seek agreement with opposition parties before any decision. How about it seeks the consensus of the civil society?
And what does the North think about this? On Tuesday night North Korea lashed out at the proposal, claiming President Lee’s idea can be construed as Seoul’s intention to subvert the North under the false assumption that the communist regime’s collapse was imminent.
All in all, perhaps just by the gist of the timing, the Lee administration will have to do a lot of talking, explaining and persuading for people to see eye-to-eye on this matter.