Lee Appeals for Change for Great Korea
By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
Lee Myung-bak, who took office as the 17th-term President Monday, appealed for change to continue what he called the Great Korea Miracle.
In his inaugural address at the National Assembly, Lee, the first former CEO to serve as President, called 2008 the starting year for advancing Korea.
``The Great Korea Miracle will continue," said Lee, a conservative who took office after 10 years of liberal governments led by former Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Dae-jung.
``In the future that I envisage for Korea, the government serves its people with devotion, the economy is robust and the weak and marginalized are taken care of and labor and management collaborate in harmony. It will be a nation where the best and brightest are fostered and welcomed by the rest of the world and which attracts the world's best and brightest to come and work. That is the vision of a Great Korea that my administration will work for,'' he said in a 30-minute speech before 60,000 guests invited to the inaugural ceremony, including foreign VIPs.
He appealed to the people to move to an age of pragmatism and away from the era of ideology.
During his speech, he vowed to pursue a small government and big markets, active privatization, tax cuts, reduce government payrolls, positive, preventative welfare, reform education and pursue a strategic alliance with the United States and an Asia-focused diplomacy and pragmatic inter-Korean relations.
President Lee pledged to be vigorous in opening the domestic market to foreign investors, saying:
``Opening of the market to the foreign sector is an unavoidable mega-trend.''
Expressing his willingness to sign free trade agreements (FTAs) with major economies, he said, ``Such an economy as ours, which depends so much on exports, should increase our national wealth through free trade regimes.''
Most of all, the new President is expected to put priority on urging the National Assembly to ratify an FTA with the United States as early as possible.
He also promised to cut corporate taxes, saying, ``Only then will we see investments and consumption increase again.''
But Lee said he has many concerns regarding those industries whose competitiveness will be weakened once exposed to the global market.
``We are all sons and daughters of the land and the sea, of farmers and fishermen,'' he said. ``The worries about our agriculture, our farmers and our fields are worries about our country.''
He proposed that Korea integrate advanced manufacturing technologies into its agricultural industry and also incorporate advanced distribution service management techniques in such a way as to develop the agricultural sector into secondary and tertiary industries.
Lee described economic revitalization as the nation's ``most urgent'' task, saying, ``New engines of growth must emerge assuredly.''
As a crucial step to achieve a bullish economy, he cited labor-management relations and claimed that labor strikes have sharply abated in advanced economies.
``Autonomous improvement in labor-management culture is a prerequisite for national advancement. We must end the era of strife and open an era of companionship.''
Regarding foreign policy, the new President said he will work to develop and further strengthen traditional friendly relations with the United States into a future-oriented partnership.
``Based on the deep mutual trust that exists between the two peoples, we will also strengthen our strategic alliance with the United States,'' he said.
Also stressing that the new administration will attach importance to foreign policy ``toward Asia,'' he said the government will seek peace and mutual prosperity with close neighbors, including Japan, China and Russia.
Lee called for pragmatic inter-Korean relations, saying that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is a prerequisite to aid to the North.
He said the government will provide assistance to North Korea to help attain a per capita income of $3,000 within 10 years.
The leaders of the two Koreas must contemplate what they can do to make the lives of 70 million South and North Koreans happy and how each side can respect each other and open the door to unification, he said.
He reiterated his campaign pledge for a small but efficient government.
After delivering his inaugural address for about 30 minutes, Lee exchanged greetings with domestic and foreign dignitaries and saw off outgoing President Roh Moo-hyun in front of the Assembly.
Among the dignitaries were Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Mongolian President Enkhbayar Nambar and Uzbek President Islam Karimov.
After arriving at the presidential office, Lee held a string of meetings with visiting foreign heads of state and delegates.