It seems that in the Korean peninsula, there is a strong hope and bright outlook for a future led by Barack Obama. Even though Obama is not Korea's president, and no Korean citizen could even have been involved in electing him, many Koreans look to him for hope, even more than their own president Lee Myung-bak. Is this good Bad Unimportant Should Koreans be looking to another country's president to solve their own problems
Yes:
No one can deny that the US and Korea have very strong economic and political ties. As plainly illustrated by the global economic crisis itself, the US economy is closely linked to the entire world, but to its trading partners more closely than others. The Korean economy has taken a much stronger hit than other countries' economies precisely because of its remarkably close ties to the US. So, if the new US president does good things for the US, those will also be good things for Korea.
Additionally, the power of the Lee Myung-bak administration to mitigate the negative effects of the economic crisis has been extremely limited so far. Despite arranging a currency swap and doing its best to curb the inflation of the won against the dollar, the strength of the won is still declining and some rumors suggest that it will weaken considerably in the first quarter of 2009. Only someone with the power of the US executive branch of government can do what it takes to turn this crisis around.
Thirdly, Obama's message of change and hope is in stark contrast to Lee's administration of businessas- usual for the chaebol, or conglomerates, and vested interests in the peninsula. Obama's administration has the ideas to do what it takes to change the status quo and create a new and better way of doing things, while the Lee administration seems to want to keep existing systems the way they are.
No:
Barack Obama doesn't have Korea's best interests in mind, so Koreans should not expect much from the new American president. Despite the fact that Korea and the US have strong ties, in this time of economic crisis the US, and its new president, will be thinking about itself first. This is most easily illustrated in the consistent stance Barack Obama has taken on the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement ever since he was a senator, which is that he opposes it. If hard times come, the US president must think of his own citizens before any other country's citizens, and hard times are definitely upon us.
Lee Myung-bak is the democratically elected representative of the Korean people, and despite some early setbacks in his administration, it is still the only political power in the world which cares specifically for the South Korean people. Quite frankly, there is no one else.
Besides, it is close ties with the US economy which got Korea into this mess to begin with. Now is the time when such ties are a liability and Korea must look inward for the solutions to its own problems. These solutions might entail becoming less dependent on the US economy for export monies, but that's probably for the best anyway.
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