Senior Staff Director Lee Chang-han of the ruling Saenuri Party.(Photo:Saenuri Party)

In order to remove conflicts, the entire population of Korea should get together under a new political determination to remap our economic system and speed up the “citizens’ society” movement. We must accept diversification of culture because a varied and integrated treatment is called for at this stage.

Proper tension is good for spiritual health and for social development, but the tension that cannot be overcome destroys homes and individuals, creating men without power to develop themselves in a non-productive manner and create a violent society.

When social tension is not controlled, politics, economy, unpredictability and the feeling of insecurity that tend to make members of society tense should be taken care of before any thing else. Tension should be turned around to be healthy and creative by preparing the ground for such a turnaround.

At this juncture, we have to determine whether we have caught an “advanced nation illness,” or a “backward nation sickness.” The backward nation sickness means rampant corruption, the generalization of the use of authoritative power, the dominance of powerful factions, an ever present insecurity and dissatisfaction, shortages of social capital, and other problems that develop due to immature social politics. On the other hand, among the major factors that create socially negative elements in an “advanced nation illness” are: the disintegration of the devotion to hard work; the dismantling of corporate spirit; lowering savings; the expansion of government spending; dismantling of the spirit to adhere to regulations; and the lowering of aspirations to maintain the economic fabric. 

Mid-level developed nations have mixed elements sweeping them, and Korea has both a backward nation sickness and advanced nation illness. How we should take care of them is the problem we face. National development has been the topmost priority for Koreans for decades, and it is still ongoing. The theme comes up in historical reviews of past presidents. Excellent evaluations are given to presidents who made big contributions to the economic growth, but not to those who have not been given much credit for achievements in the economic area. Freedom with hunger is not a freedom at all, while the equality for those who are poor doesn’t make them happy.

The export potentials of our industries have been lessening continuously, and exports have been falling, causing us to doubt if the economic fundamentals are strong enough as demand for a greater welfare system, among other things, is calling for expanding government expenditures astronomically.

Senior Staff Director Lee is shown at a meeting of the staff at the ruling party’s office in Yeouido, Seoul.

Another conflict arises when demand for spending rises at the same time as poor corporate earnings, forcing the rich to give up a bigger piece of the economic pie.

What we should do to solve those problems that lay ahead of us. We all know that we have many things to do to put Korea on the list of advanced nations, and the most important involve creativity and care. The social development backed up with liberal creativity and equal consideration is something that we should pursue.

Creativity is a spiritual function that creates useful ideas and also new and creative ones. In order to get creative ideas, one has to have the ability to see through things to things with brilliant observation power overcoming the current limited conditions. Such an ability cannot be acquired over night. One has to have a plenty of professional knowledge and diverse ways of thinking and equipped with a strong internal motivation to achieve something.

MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte said the new and good ideas come from differences and their maximization is possible by mixing ages, culture and academics. In short, openness, mixture, and fusion in the process can help creativity grow as they get stimulated in the process.

Creativity brings a greater value through changes, and expansion  as it is a basic engine for growth for not only individuals but the whole of society. 

Consideration is an ability to think in terms of the other side and help create an improving environment. “Help” and “Taking Care” are at its core, and without them, there just are “No Help” and “No Care.”

Accordingly,  the act of consideration for others should not include the thoughts for manipulating others like a tool and value others’ thoughts, displaying the thoughts to help others. Acts of consideration should always lead  to the moves find out what others are thinking and give to them not only what they want, but what they might want. In the world of consideration for others, no standards and classifications are needed, but only the mind to consider others

We can learn from Shakespeare’s words that we should uphold justice anywhere, but if a court is ruled by justice alone, none of us can be saved. Consideration is generosity that jumps over justice and the use of minds. Consideration is activated in the highest levels of society. The most valuable society is where consideration for others is realized.

In order for creativity and consideration to be realized in Korea, they should change state and social systems to change the consciences of the Korean people. The state systems that were mobilized from when Korea was a poor country to what it is now no longer are useful. Revolutionary changes are needed in the government and civilian sector for Korea to be counted among the most advanced countries, with creativity and consideration for others as a foundation.

If we can’t manage to change now, the progress would be slow and Korea may never elevate itself. As emphasized before, now is the time for reform. If nothing is done now, the current problems can never be solved with the past paradigm. A paradigm is like steel armor and it has to be changed with the a new one if a body has outgrown it. The body will be crushed if the armor is not changed.

A paradigm should be changed to cope with any changes in the future, as state systems and the systems in the lower parts should be able to create synergy under new systems that are to be built with new paradigms. New governing systems based on creativity and consideration should be discovered and put into use.

In the public sector, reform should be made in the five major sectors: politics; the economy; society; culture; and welfare. The civilian sector needs the willingness to make changes in itself based on creativity and consideration for its future wellbeing. When the government and the civilian sector cooperate together under this purpose, the fire can be deepened further for a new jump in their progress ladder.

In order for overall reform to take place successfully, the country’s leaders should navigate the so-called vessel in one direction peacefully and without trouble. 

Senior Staff Director Lee Chang-han is shown at his desk at the ruling Saenuri Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul.(Photos:Newsworld)

Change and integration are contradictory values. When reform is deep, integration becomes harder to achieve, while hard integration makes reform difficult. Only leaders can work on these contradictory values and put them into a basket called the future.

What has been the common denomination for the strongest nations in the West and East that dominated a page in the world history? 

A country cannot become a powerful nation just because it has a large population and abundant natural resources. The nations that became powerful had the desire to break out of their regions and expand their presence, opened their countries to the world and continually reformed their internal systems to improve and develop. They became the most powerful countries in world history; the countries that failed did so because they did not have designs for their future. Future designs mean that a nation has a clear vision for its future, with agreement and realization of those future designs.

For example, if a vision is drawn up to make Korea a country with the most freedom and equal rights in the world, it should work towards it with determination and ceaseless effort. This is a design for the future. Without it, a nation may digress.

The design for the future should necessarily be a huge purpose for a nation to be a key player in the world history. Those designs for the future should be as little as making tomorrow more developed and happier than today and the people want to do something in the way of achieving their future designs. The people should have such determination and plans to act on them. The future is a time and space made by dreams. A nation and the people without dreams cannot move forward.

The people of a nation who know their dreams, and never give up on them, are great.