By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

[Korea Times 04-26-2007 17:13]

 

 

A private think tank said yesterday that small government and bread-and-butter issues should come to the fore as the core of the national agenda in the next government.
 
Presenting guidelines for national strategy and policy priorities for the next administration, the

conservative Hansun Foundation for Freedom & Prosperity (HFFP) also placed emphasis on

populism-free policies.
 
Park Se-il, a professor of Seoul National University who chairs the non-profit think tank, said the govern-ment is currying favor with people with its plans to hire more than 50,000 government employees over

the next five years and to relocate public agencies out of Seoul.
 
In a news conference in Seoul, Park said the populism-oriented policies will not only increase the natio-n's debt but also steer policy focus away from issues to improve the economy.
 
"Few politicians or experts have expressed concern over these issues. And a more serious problem is

that the country has no long-term strategy on how to bridge the gap between the sluggish economy and prosperity in the future," said Park, a former lawmaker of the main opposition Grand National Party

(GNP).
 
He added the concern drove "the coalition of concerned intellectuals" including himself to break the sile-nce.
 
The think tank called for the creation of a bicameral legislative system to select and review the core nati-onal agenda and filter populism-oriented legislation activities in a more prudent manner.
 
Park's hard-line anti-populist position has not come overnight. It dates back to 2005 when he served as chief policymaker of the GNP.
 
Facing the then ruling Uri Party's intention to push through a bill to relocate public agencies to Chungch-ong Province under the motto of "balanced regional development," he made clear his opposition.
 
His vehement opposition, however, was not strong enough to halt the ruling party's determination to go for its legislation.
 
After the bill passed the National Assembly, he gave up his parliamentary seat and returned to his acad-emic post.
 
Park said in an interview that politicians in the country should take their jobs seriously and should focus on policy activities, instead of spreading populism.
 
As for the government reorganization, the foundation proposed that the current government structure

of 18 ministries and four agencies be streamlined into one deputy prime ministerial-level office along

with 10 ministries and three agencies.
 
Under the proposed scheme, the office would handle core fiscal and economic policies and oversee key elements for national strategies.
 
The functions of education, labor and cultural affairs would be merged into one body, named the Future Ministry. The Welfare Ministry would handle health and welfare affairs along with gender equality issues.
 
The Inter-Korean Affairs Agency would be responsible for reunification and North Korean affairs, which is now the responsibility of the Unification Ministry.
 
The think tank said lost working days caused by militant labor unions should be handled wisely under an agency consisting of labor, management and civic and consumer groups.
 
 
 
hkang@koreatimes.co.kr