Adoption of English as Official Language Proposed
By Oh Young-jin
Staff Reporter
After three years as the leader of ``Invest Korea,'' aimed at drawing foreigners here to do business, Chung Tong-soo has one message ― make English an official language.
``Everything comes down to language barriers,'' said Chung, a Harvard Law School graduate who joined Korea's globalization effort after a stint as a civil servant in the Clinton administration.
Chung mentioned the Netherlands, whose citizens can speak an average of three or four languages and provides home to companies whose combined investments makes the land of daffodils and windmills the world's third largest destination for investors.
``It's no coincidence that Dutchmen are doing well on the international stage,'' Chung said, citing the country's low corporate taxes and individuals' readiness to accommodate foreign businesses.
It was not long ago that Koreans were worried about being sandwiched between the advanced economy of Japan and the vast emerging market of China. The country was described as being the nut in the nutcrackers. ``The situation has not changed,'' he pointed out.
``What choice do we have?'' he asked himself, answering, ``We should convert our difficulty into an advantage. The key is bringing down exorbitant corporate tax rates and giving foreign firms an atmosphere they can easily work in.
``Language barriers make life for foreigners more difficult, so let's remove them,'' he added.
He said that he even tried to persuade Jeju Island, which is aspiring to be a destination not just for foreign tourists but for businesses, to teach residents English and make them competitive.
Obviously, he understands the difficulty in adopting English as an official language.
``We are different from Singapore or Ireland,'' he said, saying that they are desperate to attract foreign investment but Korea has a strong industrial base,'' he said.
``Years from now, we may look back on a lost chance with regret,'' he said.
Acknowledging the difficulties the government would face in adopting English as an official language, Chung said, ``That is what the government is for.''
Korea's chief investment relations (IR) official also pointed to the failed KEB sale, now under the control of Lone Star, a Dallas-based equity fund that bought Korea's fifth largest bank at a time when nobody wanted it.
``President Lee Myung-bak expressed his regret,'' he said, pointing out Lee's official comment when British bank HSBC withdrew its bid for the Korean bank.
``I believe we sent the wrong signal to the international community and caused a great deal of doubt over this administration's willingness to become business-friendly,'' he said. ``President Lee's aides should have known better.''