Government Receives First Report Card On Policy Performance

Since its inauguration on Feb. 25, the Roh government has proposed policy goals and major tasks that it has yet to tackle. As such, the government has received a poor evaluation on its handling of issues regarding social conflicts, which have emerged since the president`s inauguration.

The policy evaluation committee under the prime minister`s office reported Wednesday the results of its evaluation on government policies to Prime Minister Koh Gun and other cabinet members at a meeting entitled “Report on the Government`s Performance in the First Half of 2003.” The committee evaluated the government`s 18 major policy goals which drew much of the public attention during the first half of this year.

During the meeting, the committee reported its overall evaluation on the government`s performance, pointing out its mishandling of some issues by saying, “Mainly due to the rising expectation on the government`s policy of dialogue and compromise, serious social conflicts, including workout plans with cargo union workers, erupted. The government failed to take systematic and consistent actions to address those issues because of the lack of efficient cooperation within government agencies.

Meanwhile, the committee gave a favorable evaluation on the government`s economic policy. It said that the government performed well on maintaining the nation`s sound sovereign credit rating amid global economic downturn and with handling North Korea`s nuclear issue. However, it warned that the Korean economy is still facing many dangers, such as continuing economic stagnation caused by sagging exports and the decrease in facility investments. In addition, more instability is lurking the committee added, citing, as of June 3, 220, 000 Koreans who are credit delinquents.

The committee also urged the government to come up with prompt measures to address pressing issues, such as youth unemployment, the delay of restructuring in the investment banking sector, and excessive rice inventory.

On the diplomatic and national security front, it assessed that Koreans are concerned over national security because of the North`s nuclear threat and the realignment of U.S. soldiers stationed in Korea. Particularly, the committee said that the Mt. Geumgang tourism project has a short-term profitability limit because of its lack of competitiveness as a tourist attraction and insufficient finical resources.

With regards to culture, the committee highly evaluated the government`s performance on cementing the groundwork for the national basic livelihood guarantee system, promotion of the welfare system for marginalized people, and successful containment of SARS at an early stage, among other things. However, it said the government failed to properly address issues such as job creation for the elderly, mishandling of the education database NEIS, and other social conflicts.

Young-Sik Kim spear@donga.com