한국의 첫 여성대통령으로 탄생한 박근혜 대통령이 다뤄야 할 많은 난제중에서 경제문제와 북핵문제가 가장 복잡한 현안이라고 뉴욕타임스가 25일 보도했다.
뉴욕타임스는 어린 시절을 보낸 청와대에 33년만에 돌아온 박근혜 대통령이 ‘박정희 향수’를 갖고 있는 50대 이상의 지지를 받고 있지만 그녀의 당선이 과거의 회귀라며 비판하는 한국의 젊고 자유로운 세대들과 싸워야 한다고 말했다.
<사진=뉴시스 박동욱기자>
타임스는 “박근혜 대통령이 취임사에서 언급한 ‘제2의 한강의 기적’은 한국 국민들에게 그녀의 아버지를 떠올리게 했다”며 “한국전쟁의 잿더미에서 산업화된 도시를 만들어냈지만 정치적 탄압과 언론검열, 삼성 현대와 같은 재벌기업의 등의 문제가 비롯됐다”고 지적했다.
신문은 박근혜 대통령이 “중소기업들을 좌절하게 하는 불공정행위를 근절하고 과거의 잘못된 관행(慣行)을 고쳐서, 어느 분야에서 어떤 일에 종사하던 간에 모두가 최대한 역량을 발휘할 수 있는 경제민주화를 약속했다”고 전했다.
타임스는 부모가 총탄에 스러진 비극의 가족사를 안고 있는 박근혜대통령이 “태생적으로 보수주의와 안보의식을 갖고 있다”면서 “아버지가 돌아가셨다는 소식에 우는 대신 ‘휴전선에는 이상이 없느냐?’ 고 물었다”는 비화(秘話)를 소개했다.
한국대선 일주일전에 로켓을 발사하고 대통령 취임 2주전에 이뤄진 북핵실험은 지난 5년간의 대북냉각을 끝내려하는 박근혜 대통령에게 시험대가 되고 있다. 이어 “북한의 핵실험은 민족의 생존과 미래에 대한 도전이며, 최대 피해자는 바로 북한이 될 것이라는 점을 분명히 인식해야 할 것”이라고 경고했다고 전했다.
봉영식 아산정책연구원 선임연구원은 타임스와의 인터뷰에서 “핵실험의 시기를 취임에 맞춘 것은 김정은이 자신의 위치를 공고히 하고 박근혜대통령이 이를 어떻게 다루느냐에 대한 시험대가 될 것”이라고 말했다.
대선기간중 박대통령은 강력한 국방과 북한의 도발에 대한 단호한 대응을 강조하면서도 대화를 통해 대북경색을 푸는 노력이 필요하다는 입장이었다. 또한 북핵프로그램 중단을 위한 미국 주도의 노력이 큰 효과를 보지 못한 것과 관련, 한국의 적극적인 역할이 필요하다고 말했다.
신문은 “박정희 전대통령이 북한에 대한 깊은 불신에도 긴장완화를 위해 북한에 극비리에 특사를 파견하는 등의 조치를 취했고 박대통령 또한 2002년 김정일을 만나 화해를 모색(摸索)했지만 보수를 기반으로 한 그녀가 대북접근을 어느 정도까지 깊숙히 할 수 있을지는 회의감이 있다”고 지적했다.
오늘날 한국의 보수정치인들은 한국도 핵무장을 해야 한다고 공개적으로 주장하고 있으며 최근 여론조사결과 한국민의 60% 이상이 핵무장에 찬성하고 있다.
뉴욕타임스는 “한반도 주변국들의 정권교체기라는 점에서 박근혜 대통령의 대북정책이 어떻게 나올 것인지가 중요하다. 북한을 포함해 모두가 그녀를 지켜보고 있다”는 의미심장한 지적을 했다.
뉴욕=노창현특파원 croh@newsroh,co,
<사진=뉴시스 김기태기자>
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South Korean Leader Pledges a 'Fair Market' <WSJ>
Fifty-two years after her father took control of an impoverished South Korea in a military coup, Park Geun-hye on Monday took the oath of office as the country's newest elected leader and promised to "open a new era of hope" for the now-affluent nation.
During her inaugural speech, South Korea's first female president focused on the perception that many people feel the country doesn't provide equal opportunities for success despite its enormous transformation over the last half century. "Capitalism confronts new challenges in the aftermath of the global financial crisis," she said.
Ms. Park said the government needed to work to create a "fair market" and made an indirect reference to perceptions that policies in the past favored large conglomerates that dominate the economy.
"By rooting out various unfair practices and rectifying the misguided habits of the past which have frustrated small-business owners and small- and medium-size enterprises, we will…ensure that everyone can live up to their fullest potential," she said.
She also recalled the sacrifices that many South Koreans made under her father, Park Chung-hee, who led the country out of poverty starting in the 1960s and created a democratic government.
"We are a people that had long led a life of communal sharing," she said, according to a prepared translation of the speech, calling to revive a spirit of "responsibility and sharing."
Ms. Park said North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons, marked by a test of an explosive this month, was an obstacle to improved relations.
"North Korea's recent nuclear test is a challenge to the survival and future of the Korean people," she said. "There should be no mistake that the biggest victim will be none other than North Korea itself."
She said she wanted to begin a "trust-building process" through dialogue and "by honoring promises that have already been made."
Ms. Park was sworn in before a crowd of about 70,000 people on the grounds of the National Assembly, where she had served as a lawmaker since 1998. Among the guests was the only other woman currently leading an Asian country, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra of Thailand.
South Korea's new President Park Geun-hye, standing beside Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, saluting the flag at her inauguration
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Now Ms. Park faces fundamental choices, such as whether to maintain the government's enormous influence on the economy, which ranges from running dozens of regulatory agencies to owning about 400 companies, including several of the nation's biggest banks.
Since her election in December, Ms. Park, 62 years old, has said little about the economy. The most substantial policy proposals announced by aides have been to expand welfare benefits for the elderly.
She appointed the head of the government-related development think tank, Korea Development Institute's Hyun Oh-seok, as finance minister.
Ms. Park is taking power as expectations for South Korea's economic growth have fallen to below 3% after rising above 5% in the recovery period from the global downturn of 2008 and 2009.
Meanwhile, an ultralow birthrate and other demographic conditions are working against growth potential. By the end of Ms. Park's single five-year term in 2018, the size of South Korea's eligible workforce population will have begun to decline.
The government's sizable control over the economy formed under the leadership of Ms. Park's father, Park Chung-hee, who ruled South Korea from 1961 to 1979. He directed scarce resources into industries that became the foundation of its modern export-oriented economy.
The government asserts less authority over the economy now than it did then but more than in other developed nations.
South Korean regulations are far less permissive toward entrepreneurs than in other developed countries and Seoul is widely perceived as tamping down competition for large conglomerates.
Ms. Park's actions since the election have sent mixed signals about her beliefs about the government's role.
In one sign that she believes the government should throttle back its presence on economic matters, she and her aides have declined to set a target for economic growth, as presidents have done from her father up to the departing officeholder Lee Myung-bak.
"Maybe Lee Myung-bak is the last president who has a kind of old-style growth model," said Kwon Young-sun, an economist at Nomura International in Hong Kong.
If so, he added, Ms. Park's government would be joining a global trend. "After the 2008 global crisis, so many countries realize the benefit of very high economic growth is concentrated on very small number of people that they have de-emphasized it," Mr. Kwon said.
However, in a sign that Ms. Park wants government and companies working closely, she returned control of trade matters and treaties to the ministry of industry from the foreign affairs ministry, where it has been for the last 15 years.
One prominent member of the Assembly from Ms. Park's conservative party, Kim Jong-Hoon, the former trade minister who negotiated South Korea's free-trade pacts with the U.S. and European Union, publicly criticized the move. He said the industry ministry's focus on manufacturing is out of step with the growing importance and influence of South Korea's service sector.
The trade ministry shift has also aroused concern among diplomats and the leaders of foreign businesses in South Korea, who have recalled the industry ministry's record of creating rules that have served as non-tariff barriers to trade.
Write to Evan Ramstad at evan.ramstad@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared February 25, 2013, on page A8 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: South Korean Leader Pledges a 'Fair Market'.
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