Presidential Qualifications and Statecraft

The changing political environment due to globalization, the advancement of democratization, and the development of information technology, particularly the spread of social networking services (SNs), is increasing the need for new governance. In response to the era's demands stemming from the advancement of democratization in Korea, EAI has sought institutional measures regarding the desirable roles, powers, and responsibilities of the president in the post-democratization era through projects such as "Conditions for a Successful Presidency" in 2002 and "Conditions for a Successful Presidential Transition" in 2007. Now, the 'quality of governance'—how to secure stable state leadership—has become a critical task, rather than institutional frameworks.

Accordingly, EAI intends to review the achievements and methods of state administration by past governments and explore the conditions for forming governability and successfully fulfilling the presidential duties in line with the new political environment. To this end, we will first invite senior figures with both extensive experience and academic knowledge in overall state administration since democratization to engage in in-depth discussions on Korean governance.

On February 22, 2012, we held the first roundtable discussion with Chairman Yoon Yeo-joon of the Korea Research Institute for Local Administration, and the main presentations are as follows.

The condition for a successful presidency is post-election governability, or statecraft.

Why have past presidents since the civilian government not all been evaluated as successful? It is because they do not understand the difference between founding and sustaining. It has long been said that 'ruling is more difficult than conquering the world.' Sustaining in the era of democracy is far more difficult and complex than this. Nevertheless, presidential candidates focus solely on getting elected, rather than adequately preparing for what and how they will do once they become president. The success or failure of presidential performance is determined by the extent to which they possess statecraft, the governing capacity required to be responsible for the rise and fall of the nation, but this point has been overlooked.

The core elements constituting statecraft are recognizing the era's challenges and presenting a vision for them, and possessing the policy-making capacity to realize that vision. This includes creating or altering new institutions, appointing talented individuals, and managing the division of Korea in our current reality. It would be desirable to possess both extensive theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge gained through experience. Thus far, presidents have failed because they lacked this statecraft. In some cases, they even lacked basic literacy in statecraft. That is, they did not truly understand what a nation is, or what democracy is.

Building statecraft is the restoration of publicness.

The president's lack of understanding of publicness, which is the basis for exercising strong state coercive power, leads to the privatization of power. The president's sense of private ownership of power rapidly spreads to family and close associates, giving rise to corruption and impropriety. The privatization of power has been the most significant factor in the failures of past presidents. The mistaken belief that state power is spoils of war won through elections leads to the ills of patrimonialism, where the state is treated as the monarch's private property.

Furthermore, policy failures that lead to economic and security instability foster distrust, as the state fails to protect the people's property and lives, thereby accelerating the destruction of publicness.

The greatest failing of President Lee Myung-bak was that the president, who should be a symbol of publicness, not only led the destruction of publicness but also reached a level where it was normalized. Therefore, the core task of the new president is to restore the eroded publicness. The practical starting point for restoring publicness is 'public appointments.' Instead of resorting to narrow, exclusive, or nepotistic appointments that are targets of public distrust, appointments should be made to the right positions based on public criteria. When talented individuals with no prior connection to the president are selected, they will gain the trust of the bureaucracy, the market, the public, and the media.

Rethink Democracy

Next is the president's insufficient understanding of democracy. Twenty-five years have passed since democratization, and despite electing leaders like former presidents Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, who were symbols of the democratization movement, democracy still does not function properly. It is an irony that individuals who dedicated their lives to the struggle for democratization against military regimes engaged in authoritarian state administration. This is because democracy was understood not as a method of state administration, politics, or social life, but primarily as procedural democracy focused on institutions or systems. A lack of understanding of parliamentary politics led to a political behavior of hostility towards the National Assembly, opposition parties, and critical media, and excessive intervention in the electoral process to make the ruling party a majority party and dominate the legislature.

Denying collective decision-making, the core of democracy, and exercising arbitrary power is also a sign of insufficient understanding of democracy. Even former presidents Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, who were democratization activists, are difficult to evaluate as democratic leaders. The lack of communication during the Lee Myung-bak administration was because the political parties, the channels of communication for a representative political system, were weakened. Behind this was a flawed utilitarian philosophy that the process does not matter as long as the outcome is good.

Economic democratization is the foundation of political democratization.

Economic democratization is also a crucial agenda requiring presidential statecraft, as it is the foundation of political democratization. During President Park Chung-hee's era, despite authoritarian rule, checks were placed on the chaebols. However, after democratization, their control rapidly weakened, and the chaebols rapidly expanded and gained power, becoming an obstacle to democratic development. In this context, former President Roh Moo-hyun lamented, "Power has now shifted to the market." Furthermore, the president's lack of statecraft led to a tendency to rely on economic research institutes affiliated with large corporations for policy ideas. Consequently, there is a risk that national policies will serve the interests of specific corporations. The chaebol companies that benefited immensely from the pro-business policies of the Lee Myung-bak administration have shown no performance in job creation or investment, further amplifying public dissatisfaction. With the deepening polarization in our society, economic democratization will be a key agenda item for the next president.

As a result of going through four presidencies since democratization, we have realized that national administration is difficult if we do not elect a president with proper statecraft. The future of the Republic of Korea depends on the president's statecraft. We expect the next president to possess statecraft based on publicness as a core value, with a correct understanding of democracy and practical knowledge. ■

Chairman Yoon Yeo-joon graduated from the Department of Political Science at Dankook University. He worked as a reporter for The Dong-A Ilbo and The Kyunghyang Shinmun. After entering public service in 1977 as a press attaché at the Korean Embassy in Japan, he served as a special assistant to the Director of the National Intelligence Service, and as Senior Secretary to the President for Public Relations. He served as Minister of Environment in 1997 and was a member of the 16th National Assembly (Grand National Party) in 2000. He served twice as the Director of the Yeouido Institute and is currently the Chairman of the Korea Research Institute for Local Administration. He recently published "Presidential Qualifications" (2011).

Moderator

Lee Sook-jong, President of EAI, Professor at Sungkyunkwan University

Participants

Kang Won-taek, Professor at Seoul National University

Yoon Sung-yi, Professor at Kyung Hee University

Lee Gon-soo, Head of EAI Governance Research Team

Lee Na-young, Director of EAI Public Opinion Analysis Center, Professor at Korea University

Lee Jae-youl, Professor at Seoul National University

Jang Yong-seok, Professor at Yonsei University

Jeong Won-chil, Senior Researcher at EAI Public Opinion Analysis Center

Jeong Han-wool, Deputy Director of EAI Public Opinion Analysis Center

Han Kyu-seop, Professor at Seoul National University