Past Ten Years with Passion

Ten Years Ahead with Innovation

I sincerely thank you for attending Hansun Foundation’s ten-year anniversary.

Hansun Foundation pulled up the anchor ten years ago with the calling to give guidance to our wandering nation. We promised to expand the national consensus by developing the New Millennium National Vision and Strategy based on South Korea’s legitimacy and confidence in its historical achievements.

Hansun Foundation launched two significant missions with the belief that communitarian liberalism is the core spirit of our times. We primarily achieve unification of Korea and proactively develop our country into the world state that promotes prosperity in Northeast Asia and peace in global villages. We then drastically revolutionize the nation’s pre-modern operation system to make it into a model advanced nation.

For the last ten years, we held policy seminars once a week, even before the sunrise, and nibbled on sandwiches while continuing our studies. We put our heads together to discuss and publish important issues and items for the agenda. Frequently, we issued the “Hansun Brief” or public statement to present our stance strongly on particular national matters.

Your passionate patriotism and unsparing support encouraged Hansun Foundation to strive for our goals. Let us express our utmost gratitude and respect for all your help.

Unfortunately, our nation is not much different than it was ten years ago when the foundation was first established. National security is in severe danger with North Korea’s suspected nuclear weapons development. Our growth potential is declining sharply, and the gap between each sector is hardly narrowing. Disparity in income and academic ability are worsening like never before. Han Sun is not free from such responsibility.

Our expedience and alternatives were on the right path, but the policy failed to reflect our voices adequately. Proposals must be specific and adaptable to reality. Logic must be impartial so that it embraces all factions and parties. From now on, we must move from the generalities to the particulars. We must formulate an innovational alternative that is appealing to everyone.

Now that we have set the direction, our next step is to contemplate precise roadmaps and strategies. Of course, this will not be easy. Perhaps we might have to depart from our usual ways of facing and solving problems.

During the 1968 Tokyo Olympics, American high jump athlete Dick Fosbury won the gold medal by using a new tactic, the “Fosbury flop.” Before the Fosbury flop, the “scissors kick” was the common strategy in the high jump field. Instead of adhering to the usual tactic, Fosbury attempted to put his head in first while jumping and successfully set a remarkable world record. Since then, the Fosbury flop replaced the scissors kick and became universal among athletes.

Hansun Foundation must be renewed through relentless self-examination and renovation. If we become lethargic in changing and innovating ourselves, then we cannot expect any improvement in the next ten years. We humbly accept your candid criticism and constructive suggestions that will lead us to a brighter future.

Dearest Hansun Foundation fellows,

I was shocked when I first saw the nightscape of the Korean Peninsula photographed by a NASA satellite in 2012. North Korea was dismal and dark as the deep sea. South Korea looked as if it was an island alongside Japan.  Pyongyang seemed more like Jeju Island on the north.

Immediately after the liberation, the livelihood in the North and South were not much different. The North and South have pursued contrasting values and interests for 70 years. As a result, they are now polar opposites.

At first, the fundamental difference in their stance was insignificantly minute. Then the watershed diverged, causing synergetic effects and extremely amplified the disparity between the two states. The Meiji Restoration was the catalyst for Japanese modernization. Lee Kuan Yew’s remarkable leadership turned Singapore into an invincible, economically advanced country. The East-European Bloc and Central and South America that once outran South Korea in terms of economic development are still suffering from the “middle income trap.”

How will the night view of the Korean Peninsula change in the next 70 years? Will we be able to see the North and South as a united nation and not as separate islands? Will the Korean Peninsula glow brighter than any other region in the near future?

South Korea is again standing on the brink of another watershed and being pressured to make the right decision. Hansun’s strong leadership and passionate support for our nation will guarantee a bright future for generations to come.

I will end this opening statement with a quote from Mother Teresa that is engraved on the wall of Mother House in Calcutta, India.

“Yesterday is gone and tomorrow has not yet come; we must live each day as if it were our last so that when God calls us we already, and prepared, to die with a clean heart.”

We wish blessings for Hansun’s divine journey and also to you and to your families at home.

Thank you.