Friday, December 21, 2012

Time's 기자가 본 대선뒤의 숨겨진 이야기(박근혜)

이글을 읽기전까지는  외국기자가 쓴 글이 얼마나 한국을, 그것도 이번에 대통령에 당선된 박근혜를, 잘 안다고 감히 그녀에 대한 대선뒤의 숨겨진 얘기를 쓴다는 것일까?
모르는 그녀에 대한 진실을 이글을 통해서 알아본다기 보다는 외신기자가 어떤내용을, 사실과 다른 얘기들이 나열되여 있는것을 확인(?)하기위함에서 들여다 본것이다.
 
나의 상상은  다만 상상으로 끝나고 말았음을 알았고,  외신기자의 전문성이 많이 깃들여진
취재 내용은 "아 그래서 역시 기자생활을 하는구나"라는  긍정을 부정할수 없었다.
 
좀처럼 얼굴의 표정이 보통사람들 처럼 변화하지 않고, 내면에서 조절하는 강인한 성격의 소유자라고 파악하고 있는 기자의 예리한 눈초리에, 같은 언어를  사용하면서 같은 풍습속에서 같이 살아왔다고 생각하면서 그녀에 대해서 잘 알고 있었다고 자만(?)했던 한국사람이 어찌 나혼자 였겠습니까?  그예가 그녀가 광주를 방문했을때 아주 잘 표현된것으로 기자는 보고 있었다.
 
그녀의 부친은 군사 쿠테타를 일으켜 정권을 잡고 18년 동안 통치한 분이다.  아버지의 고향, 한반도의 남단 동쪽지역을 공업화 시키고, 그반대편인 서쪽, 그중에서 광주는 역사적으로 다른지역에 비해 liberalism을 부르짖는 대표적 도시였는데, 공업화에서 제외시켜, 그지역 국민들에게 좀 심하게 표현하면 한을 더 심어준 격이 되는 좋지 않은 선물을 준격이 됐다.  차거운 그곳에서 그녀는 주민들로 부터 냉대를 받는 대신에 지혜롭게 잘 처신해 "무슨 염치로 이곳에 왔느냐" 라는 비난을 받지 않고, 선거운동을 하고, 사상 처음으로 두자리 숫자의 지지를 얻어냈다고 했다.
 
박근혜는  한국사람이라면 오늘의 한국이 있게된 초석을 다진 그의 아버지로 부터 유산을 물려 받았다.  어떤이에게는 좋은 인상으로 또어떤이에게는 독재자로 남아 있지만,  동시대를 살아온 국민들은 그의 아버지에 대해 신앙처럼 고마워한다.  혁명과 같은 개혁을 해서 경제기틀을 다졌고,  특히 한국전쟁이후 경제적으로 거의 쓸모없는 곳으로 여겨지던곳에  경제 기적을 일으킨 그의 쉬지않고 정직을 밑천으로 열심히 일하고 이끌어온 영도력에 후한 점수를 주고 공경한다. 
그러한 아버지에 대한  향수를 Senior들은 박근혜를 통해서 다시 보기를 원하고 그래서 이번 선거에 많은 영향력을 끼쳤다고 보고 있는것 같다.  특히 아버지가  암살당했다는 첫소식을 접한 그녀는  첫마디가 "휴전선은 이상 없나요?"라고 했던 그녀를 믿음직 스럽게 생각하고 있는것 같다.
이에 앞서 어머니 육영수 여사가 이북의 사주를 받은 자로 부터 암살당했을때, 아직 세상 물정을 모르는 젊은 처녀로, 어머니가 맡았던 First Lady역활을 하면서 국가와 국민에 대한 확고한 사상을 자리매김한것으로 보고 있는것 같다. 이제 집권한지 겨우 1년차인 북한의 김정은 정권이, 어떤식으로 그녀를 시험할지(?)가 그녀가 준비해야할 과제이기도 하다. 현 이명박 정부에선 북한은 2번씩이나 공격을 감행 했었다.  첫번째가 천안함 폭침사건, 두번째가 연평도 포격사건, 두번다 이명박 정부는 그에 상응하는 반격을 취하지 못한것으로 기록되고 있는것 같고,  그뒤에는 진보를 부르짖는 야당과 젊은 세대들의 지지를 전폭적으로 얻지 못한점도 한몫했다고 본다.
 
가난했던 세대가 겪었던 인생의 맛과, 전쟁의 참상을 겪어보지 못한 젊은 세대들에게, 호시탐탐 틈새만 보이면 Agitating할려고 하는 북한 정권의 실상을 리얼하게 알리고 홍보하는, 그래서 조국 대한민국은 무장을 해야만 하는 특유의 이유가 있음을  계속적으로 교육차원에서 알려줬으면 하는 나의 생각도 곁들여 본다.  
 
한국사회의 구조상, 아직은 여성과 남성의 동등한 대우는 갈길이 멀다고 하겠다.  경제적 규모는 세계 11위로 성장했지만, 여성의 사회적 대우는 챙피하게도 전세계에서 108위라고 한다.
이러한 사회적 구조속에서 여성대통령이 됐지만, 과연 이러한 Gap을 얼마나 좁힐지는 그녀의 향후 대통령직 수행에서 피부로 느낄만큼 변화 시킬지에 관심이 모아지고 있다고 분석한것 같다.
 
야당후보였던 문재인이 주창한 개혁보다는 바로 코앞에 대포와 장갑차로 무장하고 기회를 노리고 있는 북한의 위협에 대처하는, 안보개념과 안정을  더염려하는 기성세대들의 생각과 박근혜의 생각이 맞아 떨어져 승리를 이루었지만, 압도적 승리(Landslide)는 아님이 또한 부담이 될수도 있다는 분석같다.  또 그냥 지나칠수 없는 고민은, 아직 한국은 민주주의라는 날개를 달고 부상한지 얼마 안되는 새와 같아, 성숙되기까지의 여정에서 야당을 지지하는 많은 국민들의 욕구와 충돌을 면할수 없게 될것이라는 점이다.
 
그래도 꾸준히 역경을 이겨내고 오늘까지 달려와, 그것도 처녀의 몸으로, 흔히들 여성의 본능중의 하나인 상황에 따라서 표정이 칠면조처럼 변하는 행동을 겉으로 거의 나타내지 않은 단호함은, 그래서 Ice Queen(얼음공주)라는 애칭(?)을 얻기도 했단다.  여성이 국가의 수반이 되고, 세계정치무대에서 활동한 예는 많지만, 결혼안한 처녀의 신분으로 국가의 수장이 된 예는 역사상 두번째라고 한다.  첫번째는 영국여왕을 지냈던 엘리자베스 1세 이고, 그뒤를 이어 박근혜 대통령 당선자라고 한다.   이점은 두고두고 한국역사와 세계의 역사에 기록될것으로 보인다.
 
박근혜 당선자가 선거운동때 주창했던 모든 공약들이 순조롭게 이루어지고, 잘사는 조국이 되기를 기원한다. 
 
 
 

Behind the Story: TIME’s Emily Rauhala Discusses South Korea’s First Female President

 
Park Geun-hye
Lee Jin-man / AP
A man looks at the wall paintings of South Korea's President-elect Park Geun-hye of ruling Saenuri Party and national flag at the Korean Civic Education Institute for Democracy in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012.
On Dec. 19, conservative candidate Park Geun-hye won the race for the South Korean presidency. The 60-year-old career politician will be South Korea’s first woman President when she is inaugurated in February. She is also the daughter of former President Park Chung-hee, the dictator who ruled the country from 1961 to 1979. TIME Asia Associate Editor Emily Rauhala wrote about Park and her campaign for a recent magazine cover story. The day after Park’s election victory in a tight contest, TIME spoke to Rauhala to get the story behind the story of Park’s historic return to the Blue House.
What surprised you when you followed Park on the campaign trail?
I saw Park Geun-hye campaigning in enemy territory. I followed her to the city of Kwangju in the country’s Southwest, which is part of a region that has historically supported liberal candidates. I had heard that she was very cold and I knew she had the nickname “Ice Queen.” So what surprised me was her demeanor with people: she had a strange mix of being very reserved and yet very personable at the same time. She is great about shaking people’s hands, about making eye contact, about politely bowing to the people before her, but—at least in Kwangju—she rarely lingered to ask questions. I got the impression that her image was tightly controlled.
Park’s father, General Park Chung-hee, who ran the country for 18 years, developed South Korea’s economy in a way that split the country from East to West. The Southeast, where he was from, became the industrial heart of the country, while the people in the West now feel that they have been left behind. Yet she operated well in this hostile environment.
Looking back at her successful campaign, was her father’s legacy an asset to Park Geun-hye’s presidential aspirations?
Her father Park Chung-hee is probably the single-most influential and single-most divisive figure in contemporary South Korean history. The legacy is both her blessing and her curse. On the plus side, her father is idolized, particularly by some older South Koreans. He is credited with revolutionizing the economy, transforming South Korea from an economic wasteland after the Korean War to the economic powerhouse it is today. The older generation and Park Chung-hee’s fans in general tend to see him as someone who was hard-working and honest. Park Geun-hye gets to bask in that glow.
On the flip side, her father’s rule is still something the country is coming to terms with. He seized power in a military coup and became increasingly authoritarian over the course of his tenure. By the 1970s he started jailing critics and implemented a repressive constitution; a lot of the current crop of liberal and progressive leaders cut their teeth as student leaders and activists fighting his rule. During South Korea’s democracy struggle, public sentiment toward General Park hardened. After her father was killed, Park Geun-hye lived in relative seclusion, staying out of the public eye until she re-entered public life, as a politician, in the wake of the 1998 Asian financial crisis. For some people, she will always be the dictator’s daughter, nothing more, nothing less.
In your story you recounted how, when she first learned of her father’s assassination, she asked whether the border with North Korea was safe. How will Park deal with the North’s dictator: Kim Jong Un?
This is one of the biggest questions going forward. Park Geun-hye has an incredibly difficult history with North Korea. In 1974, her mother Yuk Young-soo, then the First Lady, was assassinated by a North Korean sympathizer. That forced her to become the de facto First Lady at age 22. North Korea has been very critical of her.
Over the coming months we can expect Kim Jong Un to be testing Park Geun-hye and seeing what she is made of. During the campaign, Park promised to return to engagement with Pyongyang, a departure from the hardline policy of incumbent President Lee Myung-bak—which was seen as a failure by many South Koreans because of two attacks during his tenure: an artillery attack on a South Korean island, and the alleged sinking of a South Korean naval vessel, both in 2010. She has said she hopes to build trust with the North. We’ll see if she can do it.
South Koreans have elected their first woman president. Can her conservative policies bring about more gender equality in the patriarchal society that is South Korea
Considering that South Korea is the world’s 11th-biggest economy, it’s quite striking that it ranks only 108th in terms of the World Economic Forum’s gender-gap index. There is no shortage of highly educated and accomplished South Korean women, but their rates of labor force participation and their rates of pay lag behind their peers in advanced economies. A South Korean woman can expect to make an average of 39% less than a man in the same job. Women are also over-represented among contract workers, who often don’t getbenefits, work irregular hours, and are paid less. There is a lot to do.
Park Geun-hye made women’s rights one of the cornerstones of her campaign. She promised a “women’s revolution” for South Korea, mentioning issues such as childcare. The word “revolution” might be a bit of a stretch: according to her critics, her feminist credentials are somewhat lackluster and her identity as a woman has never been front-and-center until this campaign. The question is whether she can make good on the pledge of changing the reality of South Korean women without alienating the more conservative old-school members of her Party’s base.
In her victory speech in Seoul, Park promised to revive what is Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Will she be able to deliver?
It’s going to be tough. One of the things that surprise outsiders most is the extent North Korea didn’t figure prominently in the election. The campaign was very much more about domestic economic concerns and quality-of-life issues, rather than the question of North Korea, which looms large in South Korea, but much more so in the international imagination. South Korea is growing. HSBC Research predicts 3.8% growth for 2013. While many Western countries could only wish for suchfigures, for South Korea that represents the end of 50 years of breakneck growth. There is a growing concern about the gap between the rich and the poor, and household debt is at 154% of household income. Ordinary South Koreans increasingly feel that they are scrambling and struggling to make ends meet, let alone to get ahead. The big challenge for Park will be trying to find a balance between her more populist campaign rhetoric—she talked about reining in the corporate conglomerates that dominate the economy, lowering the cost of education, helping women access affordable childcare—while maintaining her popularity with the conservative base.
The left-leaning opposition candidate Moon Jae-in conceded defeat after running on a platform of more social spending and a softer stance on North Korea. Does the South Korean left have to rethink itself?
Moon ran a strong campaign. About 51.6% of South Koreans voted for Park, who represented the legacy of state-led development and stability, and just over 48% voted for Moon, with his more progressive, more liberal vision for the country. This has certainly not been a landslide victory for Park or a crushing defeat for the opposition. South Korea is a young democracy, but has an incredibly vibrant tradition of activism and protest. You can expect that, over the course of Park’s single five-year term, the liberal camp will continue to push its vision for economic democratization and engagement with the North.


Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/12/20/behind-the-story-times-emily-rauhala-discusses-south-koreas-first-female-president-2/#ixzz2FepuLAAo

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