Reporter's Notebook Why Moon needs team of rivals
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Candidates pose ahead of their last presidential debate. From left are: Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea, Hong Joon-pyo of the Liberty Korea Party, Yoo Seong-min of the Bareun Party, Sim Sang-jung of the Justice Party and Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party. / Joint press corps
By Park Hyong-ki
In times of deep internal division and economic turmoil in the United States, Abraham Lincoln became the 16th president in 1861.
What was more surprising than his victory was his appointment of his political rivals to key Cabinet positions, people who ran against him and had different ideas.
Lincoln, a former lawyer, did so to hold the country together by using his rivals’ strengths and potential, even if he had to sacrifice his political career in the short run.
To this day, Lincoln’s unconventional methods in human capital are looked upon for guidance.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama followed Lincoln’s example when he was elected.
He said he did not want to be surrounded by people who would always agree with him, but wanted people who could “challenge and push me out of my comfort zone.”
President Moon Jae-in faces a similar situation as Lincoln.
The country’s growth is losing luster. It is deeply divided, with conflicts between the elderly and young, rich and poor and conservatives and liberals running high.
Also, since South Korea is technically still at war with North Korea, Moon will face diplomatic challenges from the U.S., China, Japan and Russia over the nation’s division with the North as Koreans continue to ask whether Pyongyang is Seoul’s friend or enemy.
President Moon would need to look at Lincoln’s example in this crucial time, which calls for desperate yet unconventional measures.
He would need his own team of rivals who can draw a bipartisan agreement with the opposition, while challenging the president when they strongly feel he is on the wrong track for the people of this country.
Korea has so far seen the mistakes and wrong turns the former governments of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye made surrounded by their yes-men and cronies.
It seems the Moon administration is reaching out to his rivals, asking Yoo Seong-min of the Bareun Party to take the helm as finance minster and Sim Sang-jung of the Justice Party to serve as labor minister.
Yoo’s and Sim’s hopes of becoming head of state may have been dashed, but there are other ways to serve the country and its people.
Furthermore, Moon should ask Ahn Cheol-soo to be the education minister.
Koreans have seen their strengths and passions during televised debates.
Yoo may be a conservative, but when it comes to economics, he seems to be a conscious liberal. Some go as far as calling him “Robin Hood” because of his support for taxing the rich to help the poor. What is wrong with that? No one has framed Robin Hood as a bad thief; he is painted as a righteous and honorable man.
Sim is eager to improve laborers’ welfare and reduce inequality.
And no one showed more passion than Ahn to fix the outdated and broken education system here. Ahn is even fit to be the science and technology minister.
If Moon makes a formal request, the three should bury the hatchet, set aside their political differences and take the jobs not for the president but for his boss ― the people, and the middle and lower classes they said they sincerely wanted to serve.
This team of rivals is worth betting for in this time of uncertainty and volatility, and they can lead the changes they promised.
Koreans want to see change happening in their aging system and culture.
They need a fighter, a hero who can make that happen, not a hotshot celebrity politician.
In the words of Joseph Campbell, a scholar of mythology, the big difference between the two is “a celebrity lives only for self, while a hero acts to redeem society.”
Be their hero.