Making people happy
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By Park Yoon-bae
Deputy managing editor
Every Korean has a right to pursue happiness. This right is manifested in the Constitution. It is a basic human need as no one wants to be unhappy.
New President Park Geun-hye has vowed to bring happiness to the people and the nation.
“I will usher in a new era of hope whereby the happiness of each citizen becomes the bedrock of our nation’s strength which in turn is shared by and benefits all Koreans,” Park said in her inaugural speech on Monday.
It is good to see that her government will put the top priority on making people happy.
The Park administration is expected to play an active role in promoting the people’s constitutional right to happiness.
This is a far cry from the previous governments which took a laissez-faire approach to the happiness of the people. In fact, happiness is a subjective feeling and is quite different from one person to another.
For this reason, it is almost impossible to make all member of our society feel happy. Besides, it is hard to measure the levels or degrees of happiness because there is no yardstick by which to do so.
Despite all this, Park has committed to become the advocate of a “Happy Korea.” Her commitment apparently reflects the harsh reality of Korea.
The nation achieved the “Miracle on the Han River” through brilliant economic success and establishing a functioning democracy in a short period.
However, we have to admit that the success story has done little, if not nothing at all, to bring true happiness to the people as they were forced to live life in the fast lane.
Now, Koreans can enjoy economic affluence after rising from the ashes of the Korean War and realizing rapid economic development and modernization.
But the people have been driven into fierce competition under a misguided “winner-take-all” system.
As Park pointed out in her address, Korea has been built on the “blood, toil, and sweat” of the people. Regrettably, Koreans have been unable to enjoy happiness in proportion to economic advancement.
Of course, economic growth and wealth do not guarantee happiness. This is evident when less developed countries such as Bhutan and some Latin American states are often listed as the world’s happiest nations.
Why do most Koreans feel less happy than many other people around the world, despite the nation’s status as one of the world’s G20 economies and information technology powerhouses?
The reason is simple. Most Koreans have felt social deprivation due to the widening gap between the rich and the poor. The proportion of the middle class shrank to 67.7 percent in 2011 from a peak of 75.4 percent in 1990.
The decline was attributed to a concentration of wealth among a small number of rich people, including the owners of family-run chaebol and high-income professionals.
The social polarization has deepened since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis which began to help the top 20 percent income brackets monopolize wealth, while leaving 80 percent poor. Now, the divide is on the verge of widening to 10 percent against 90 percent.
What’s imperative is to narrow the gap in order to beef up the middle class ― the backbone of democracy. This cannot be achieved without ensuring a fair distribution of wealth.
Park has pledged to push for what she calls “economic democratization,” which is aimed at encouraging a fair sharing of economic fruits among all economic players.
Businesses, especially chaebol-affiliated large firms, are required to share their profits with workers and consumers in a more equitable way. They should also take more social responsibility in order to promote more “inclusive” growth and embrace the poor and underprivileged.
The government and the business sector should work together to put between 5 million and 8 million non-regular workers on regular payrolls so that they can enjoy better treatment and pluck the economic fruit on an equal footing.
Political reform is also prerequisite to creating a new, bright future. Park should leave no stone unturned to put an end to old politics mired in partisan struggles, corruption and skullduggery.
Education reform is also equally important. Students and their parents cannot be happy unless they are free from stress arising from excessive competition for college entrance exams and the heavy burden of private tutoring.
It is necessary for the people to refrain from dog-eat-dog competition and work together to build a more inclusive society. The government cannot feed all members of society with happiness.
We have to try to change our way of life and thinking in order to find what happiness is.