At a Cabinet meeting this week, President Moon Jae-in said that South Korea would commit itself to playing a global role befitting its status as an advanced nation, as recognized by the UN.
He was referring to last week’s decision by the UN Conference on Trade and Development to reclassify the country into a category of developed economies from a group of Asian and African states.
The decision was made unanimously during the 68th board meeting of the UN agency dealing with trade and development issues at its headquarters in Geneva. It marks the first time that the agency has upgraded a member nation from one of three regional groups of developing economies to the category of advanced economies since its establishment in 1964.
Moon said that the decision by the UN body meant South Korea has been recognized internationally as an advanced country. He went on to state that South Korea would keep moving forward to become a “pacesetting” nation, faithfully fulfilling its responsibility and role on the global stage.
In the eyes of some critics, Moon seemed too buoyant about what they saw as nothing new that the country should pride itself on after having already passed many milestones in its rise to become a major economic powerhouse in the world from the ashes of the 1950-53 Korean War.
In 1996, Korea became the 29th member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which now encompasses 37 of the world’s wealthiest countries. In 2009, it joined the organization’s Development Assistance Committee as its 24th member, officially transforming itself from an aid-receiving country to a donor nation.
In 2016, it entered the Paris Club, a consultative body of 22 major creditor countries.
What went barely noticed is that Seoul asked the UN entity on trade and development to include Korea in the group of advanced economies.
Critics note the request might have stemmed from the administration’s wish to leave a meaningful legacy before Moon ends his five-year term in May. In a move seen to have come in the same context, Korea voluntarily abandoned its status as a developing country in the World Trade Organization in 2019.
Still, it is natural for Korea to be one of the 32 states with developed economy status in the 195-member UN body on trade and development, given the country has the world’s 10th-largest economy and has been invited to the Group of Seven summit as a guest for two consecutive years. As officials here like to note, Korea’s remarkable growth has proved the dictum of the UNCTAD that trade is a crucial tool for economic development.
What should be noted now is that its reclassification into an advanced country by the UN agency is expected to strengthen calls from the international community to assume more responsibility for enhancing universal values such as democracy and human rights.
This environment will make it harder for Seoul to maintain what it describes as strategic ambiguity between the US and China. European Union members, Japan and other developed democracies have sided with the US in countering China’s mounting assertiveness, which they see as threatening the rules-based international order.
The Moon administration may also find it more awkward to keep mum on the dire human rights conditions in North Korea.
In the long term, Korea needs to work out its own agenda not to be affected by the intensifying confrontation between Washington and Beijing.
Moon should also recognize the role of Korean companies in enabling the country to achieve the remarkable achievements he is eager to boast of. Since an export-oriented industrial policy was initiated by then-President Park Chung-hee’s government in the 1960s, local firms have gone all out to produce world-class products and sell them in overseas markets.
Corporate roles are becoming all the more important at a time when the global economy is struggling to get over the fallout from the protracted pandemic and as the US-China competition for technological supremacy intensifies.
The Moon government has pushed through a set of anti-business measures, discouraging many companies from increasing investment and improving competitiveness. A continuous imposition of excessive regulatory and labor restrictions will push domestic firms to move abroad and undermine the very foundation of the country’s remarkable accomplishments over the past decades.
Moon should have expressed gratitude for efforts by entrepreneurs and previous governments to advance the country before taking pride in yet another move by the global community to recognize Korea’s status as an advanced nation.
By Korea Herald (
koreadherald@heradcorp.com)
