Despite Lee's hard work, Korea goes nowhere
Park Jung-won
President Lee Jae Myung is a remarkably busy man. He uploads social media posts late into the night and constantly issues his instructions to his ministers at the Cabinet meetings livestreamed every Tuesday. Lee has been in office for less than a year and a half, yet it already feels like he has been president much longer. Every day he comes up with something new that his ruling party then scrambles to defend. Rarely has a government made so much noise — so why is life getting harder for ordinary Koreans? Despite all this activity, there is little to show for it.
Hard work is no virtue in itself. What matters is what you do and why. For someone too sure of his own judgment and unwilling to face inconvenient facts, diligence can become dangerous. When that person is a president, the entire country may suffer. The real danger lies in confusing what serves him politically with what serves the country. Urgent problems go unresolved while the president remains busy touting his own achievements.
Consider the stock market. Lee has spoken openly about his own experience as a stock investor. Even before becoming president, he made rising stock prices a centerpiece of his economic promises, as though a booming market would make the whole country richer. Any president is capable of pushing up stock prices by using the government's resources. But the question is not whether he can; it is whether he should.
Stock markets exist to help businesses raise capital and allow investors to share in their success. But pushing share prices higher does not by itself make companies stronger or the economy healthier. Still, the government has made boosting stock prices a priority. The National Pension Service raised its target for investing in Korean stocks and eased rules on selling shares when rising prices pushed its holdings above the target. Even the rules governing the retirement savings of millions of Koreans have been changed in ways that help prop up the stock market.
Does the pension fund exist to secure Koreans’ retirement, or to fulfill a president’s stock-market pledge? When shares of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plunged, the value of the fund's holdings fell sharply too. Wealthy investors were able to profit handsomely from the rally, while latecomers and buyers of leveraged products suffered heavy losses in the selloff. How naive to think that a rising stock index makes everyone richer!
The index is not the only number Lee likes to celebrate. He recently boasted that Korea's current account surplus exceeded those of Germany and Japan combined in the second quarter, calling Korea a leader in the global economy. Strong semiconductor exports are good news. But what about soaring housing costs, jobless young people and families struggling with debt? Fixing structural problems takes time and rarely makes headlines. Does that justify chasing impressive numbers while neglecting the problems people actually face?
The same spectacle plays out in foreign policy and national security. Lee says Korea must abandon a subservient attitude toward the United States. But Seoul still relies heavily on its alliance with Washington, including America's extended deterrence, to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. Talking about self-reliance does not change that reality. What people need is real security, not bold words from their president.
Lee wants South Korea to regain wartime operational control quickly. A ruling party lawmaker has even suggested that if Seoul and Washington fail to agree on a timetable, South Korea should simply declare that it will exercise that control independently. Declare it? Would such a declaration magically provide intelligence, command systems, joint military capabilities, ammunition, supplies and the means to sustain a prolonged war? Wartime command is not a political trophy for the president. The priority is to deter war and protect people if deterrence fails. Military readiness must come before political declarations.
Then there is Ukraine: Lee publicly demanded an apology over the disclosure of captured North Korean soldiers being transferred to South Korea and warned of further action. But North Korean troops are fighting alongside Russia, meaning Ukraine has valuable intelligence about a military threat to South Korea. Rather than focus on preserving that cooperation, Lee escalated the dispute and his government moved to withdraw some diplomatic personnel. What matters more to South Korea: an apology from Kyiv or vital intelligence about North Korea? Diplomacy should serve national interests, not presidential pride.
Lee demands an apology from Ukraine but describes a North Korean land mine blast that injured three South Korean soldiers as an unfortunate accident. He speaks boldly to allies and partners, yet chooses softer words for the North, armed with nuclear weapons and missiles. Has Lee forgotten which country actually threatens South Korea?
Who is supposed to stop a president when his priorities are so wrong? His advisers should be the first to speak up. However, Lee faces persistent criticism for putting personal ties and political loyalty ahead of expertise in key appointments. Lawyers involved in criminal cases against him have found senior positions in his administration. How can those who once defended him be expected to challenge his judgment now? A president surrounded by loyalists risks hearing only what he wants to hear.
The ruling party also offers little hope for change. Its lawmakers are busy fighting the opposition and defending Lee, sometimes pushing his ideas even further. The proposal to declare independent wartime operational control is a telling example. Instead of checking the president, they reinforce his convictions. If the ruling party acts as his personal bodyguard, who is left to hold him accountable?
Lee will keep announcing achievements, ministers will follow orders and ruling party lawmakers will rush to defend him. Let them carry on. They are working tirelessly toward their own failure. Lee and his lackeys seem convinced they are doing everything right. Meanwhile, the problems weighing on ordinary Koreans remain unresolved. The tragedy is that his failures will hurt not just himself, but the very people he was elected to serve.
Park Jung-won (park_jungwon@hotmail.com), Ph.D. in law from the London School of Economics (LSE), is a professor of international law at Dankook University.