Cheer up Dr. Sakong!

By Oh Young-jin

Assistant managing editor

Last week, Sakong Il, chief organizer of the G20 Seoul Summit in November, gave a progress briefing to business editors of media organizations.

Seen from a couple seats away on his side of the table, he looked deep in thought. It was hard to tell whether he was rehearsing how to go about the briefing or had something he was worried about.

It didn’t take long to find what was causing him to show his brooding looks in public.

After a brief exchange of greetings, he went on to give a seamless, no-frills recap about what happened at the recent Toronto summit and updates regarding what to expect in Seoul. It proved to be a well-prepared briefing.

Eureka! There was the rub.

His briefing also belied what was bothering him ― a lack of public excitement about what is often promoted as a coming-of-age ceremony for Korea on its march to join the ranks of advanced countries.

The 71-year-old former finance minister with a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Los Angles, has played a key role as top advisor to President Lee Myung-bak, in Korea winning the right to host the confab of 20 leading and emerging economies.

G20 meetings signify a lot. First, it came into being when the traditional wealthy club of countries, namely the G7, couldn’t cope with the 2008 Great Recession and asked the emerging economies for help in erecting a global line of defense against the contagion of the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States.

Korea is lauded as a model student showing how successfully an individual nation can overcome the global financial crisis with its economic indicators being the envy of Europe and the United States, both still struggling to get their economies back on an even keel.

The Seoul summit was supposed to be an award ceremony where Korea was to graduate summa cum laude from the ranks of emerging economies. Or so has been promoted. In other words, the public has been led to believe that the G20 summit would be like the World Cup or the Olympics.

But, now, with the global economy gaining a sense of normalcy, G20 meetings have lost their luster as the venue where big decisions were made. Also the participating nations are becoming centrifugal, with their common global agendas being replaced by their national interests, a typical phenomenon for any multinational organization. For the G20, the process seems to be faster than those of other global bodies.

Thus, Dr. Sakong’s concern is bound to grow.

On the domestic front, he feels obligated to meet the inflated expectations of the public who don’t forget the post-selection hype of rosy dreams that should be realized through the Seoul summit. Apparently, President Lee, the self-described CEO President, pins big hopes on the summit to be presented as a showcase of his economic governance.

On the G20 side, Sakong’s job appears to be no less daunting. He has to make sure that the November summit remains coherent and G-20 stay together.

G7 countries obviously want their exclusivity back, while other non-member emerging economies are demanding their seat in the club.

Of course, the unofficial G20 charter stipulates that the expanded club be used as the primary vehicle to promote the global economy. The heft of China that has grown on the global stage also can work for the G20 continuity.

Still, the Seoul summit should be presented as a case to convince the G20 skeptics.

Or should it?

With a little hyperbole, the Seoul summit was already a success the moment the selection was made, giving Korea the additional recognition it desired as a global player.

Building a consensus for key initiatives in Seoul would be the icing on the cake but the cake would still be beautiful without it. After all, the formula of the meeting dictates no obligations for the members to implement, with the so-called peer pressure being the only enforcement tool.

The chance is also that G20 will continue, as with other global organizations, which prove difficult to create but, in most cases, show virulent staying power.

For the domestic audience, few Koreans would search for the same level of excitement in a G20 summit as in the World Cup and be disappointed.

Most would care to know of the details of discussions at the summit. Some will feel proud to see their capital at the center of the world with global leaders gathering for two days, while others will complain about traffic jams created by their motorcades. The summit is part of a process for Korea to become an advanced country, if the country is not one already.

In other words, Korea has grown more than Dr. Sakong may fear.

So there is no reason for him to wring his hands and keep his fingers crossed in the hope of making the summit a success because it is one already.

But it is important for any of the Korean hosts, Sakong Il included, to set aside their doubts and meet the world with an ample dose of self-assurance.

The best gift Korea can give to the world during the summit is sharing its national confidence and optimism with the rest of the world that looks in dire need of it. So give it to the world!