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Published on December 22, 2007

Right after he was elected as South Korea's new president, Lee Myung-bak declared enthusiastically that there would be a new South Korea that would be global in its attitude and approach. That is a tall order. But the president-elect has made his position clear on two important points: he will get tough with North Korea and continue to maintain the country's good ties with the United States. Under the outgoing president Roh Moo-hyun, South Korea had been perceived as being too soft when dealing with North Korea. For the past five years, Roh has maintained the "sunshine policy" started by Kim Dae-jung, and at times accelerated the whole process.

The sunshine policy seeks to engage the isolated Stalinist state of North Korea in a peaceful co-existence with the prosperous South. The policy is designed to bring about positive changes in North Korea through reconciliation, cooperation and mutual exchanges in a variety of areas - all founded upon the basis of both sides' concern for maximum national security.

In Roh's views, good relations between South and North Korea are imperative for continued growth and stability in the South. After all, the two countries were once one, separated by war over half a century ago and the resulting impact of the Cold War.

Quite often, Roh clashed with the United States over the North Korean issue. Seoul often views Washington's approach as too harsh for North Korea to comply with, even though South Korea and the US see eye to eye on the "de-nuclearisation" programmes they want the North to implement. The Bush administration has tried extremely hard over the past two years to persuade North Korea to dismantle its nuclear facilities. Bush has even initiated a personal correspondence with Pyongyang supreme leader Kim Jong-il.

Obviously, for any further improvement in US-South Korea relations to take place, one has to wait for the new administration that will replace Bush. Cooperation between the two countries will increase now that the new president Lee, who is a pro-business leader, has pledged to increase pressure on North Korea over the de-nuclearisation issue. In his words, future aid to the North will be conditional.

Beyond North Korea and the US, South Korea still has a lot of work to do. When the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Plus Three idea got started in 1997, Seoul was very active in providing leadership. It initiated various studies and projects that essentially led to the strengthening of the Asean Plus Three process (APT) and the broader effort to create an East Asian community. At the time, former president Kim Dae-jung managed to kick-start this initiative. Under Roh, the overall Asean Plus Three idea - and indeed South Korea's relations with Asean - were not accorded as much priority, because of South Korea's preoccupation with the North. Both China and Japan remain active in the APT at the expense of South Korea.

It is an irony really, because it occurs at a time when the Korean culture is enjoying a boom in popularity throughout Southeast Asian countries. Korean period dramas and soap operas have become very popular among Southeast Asian audiences. Korean hip-hop and pop stars have effectively replaced the Japanese pop songs that dominated the region over the past two decades.

Despite all these positive trends, South Korea remains an under-achiever in Asia in certain respects. In the past few years, most of the economic and social initiatives and programmes have emanated either from China or Japan. In this connection, Lee has to make sure that a "Global Korea" does not mean moving closer to the West only but also includes an improvement in relations and cultural interaction with Asia, especially the Asean countries.

It would be ideal for Lee to pick up where Roh left off five years ago after he succeeded Kim Dae-jung. The new president should promote the establishment of the East Asian Community and push forward the free-trade agreement with Asean, just as China and Japan are doing with the Southeast Asian grouping.

South Korea must learn how to reinvigorate ties and cooperation with Asean members and make community-building one of its priorities. Otherwise, Lee's notion of a "Global Korea" may turn out to be little more than hot air.

The Nation