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(November
22, 2004/ Seoul, Korea) Dr. Kim Myung-Ja,
Member of the Korean Parliament from the ruling Uri Party and
former Minister of Environment, lauds the recently concluded
meeting between the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for
Europe (ALDE) and the Council of Asian Liberals & Democrats
(CALD) in Brussels, Belgium, through a letter sent to the Seoul
office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.
Dr. Kim, who was a delegate and speaker of the event, has
expressed her pleasure in being part of the meeting of
reform-minded lawmakers from
Asia and Europe. The first meeting
between the two groups was held in the Seoul National
Parliament last November 2002. In her letter, Dr. Kim recounts her experiences
as environment minister of Nobel laureate Kim Dae Jung whom she
notes as having co-founded CALD in 1993. “Serving as the
Minister of Environment for four years during his
administration, I had the honor to witness firsthand his liberal
political philosophy at work,” Dr. Kim states. She continues
that the fact that the ruling democratic party captured a
majority in the general election last June for the first time in
Korea’s constitutional history, bears witness to the firm ground
on which liberal philosophy stands in today’s Korea. Thus, she
emphasizes that “it was particularly meaningful for me to attend
the meeting as a participant and witness to Korea’s visible
democratic progress.”
Dr. Kim underscores the challenges of the new millennium,
noting that the survival of human species depends on how people
and states address such enormous problems. She explains that “in
spite of the dazzling material development, the human race has
yet to come up with a viable conceptual paradigm that can truly
harmonize diversity and plurality. In some worse moments, I get
to wonder if the world is teetering on the verge of regressing
into the ancient worldview, in which wars were waged at the
behest of gods and members of other tribes worshiping different
gods were treated as if they had belonged to different species.
“It is my belief that solutions to these problems should
be built on the sense of togetherness and openness, along with a
heightened awareness of mutual interdependence. At the meeting,
I discussed two prominent areas that underscore the fundamental
interconnectedness and mutual interdependence in our global
village: trade and environment, focusing on the linkage between
the two.
“I also believe that cohesive principles of society, and
by extension, the international community in this era of
globalization, must be based on tolerance and respect of
diversity and plurality, which according to Dr. Maurice Strong,
the UN Under-Secretary General and Special Adviser to the
Secretary-General, are also indispensable for ensuring the
healthy most healthy and sustainable natural ecological systems.
As enlightened participants of the 21st century, it is
critically important that progressive parties of
Europe and Asia
work closely together with the shared vision of common
prosperity.”
Dr. Kim adds that liberal Asian and European
parliamentarians need to work on shifting to the new paradigm of
sustainable development. “There is much talk about integrating
its three pillars- economy, society, and the environment- but it
is yet to be realized. The need for efficient governance in
addressing major challenges like poverty and the widening gap
between haves and have-nots is also being emphasized, but
tangible improvement is yet to come. Countries have issued many
joint political declarations but the level of actual willingness
and determination to implement those declarations has remained
disappointedly low.”
Dr. Kim argues that “more systematic approaches are
necessary to foster a sense of solidarity between the liberal
politicians of
Asia and Europe
and to devise concrete action plans for constructive change. If
the two regions can come up with ways to strengthen governance
and facilitate sustainable patterns of life through interactive
discussions, global efforts toward sustainable development would
surely make a big step forward.”
Upon her return in
Korea from
Brussels, Madam Kim reported to Dr. Kim Daejung about the
meeting. The former president and CALD co-founder expressed his
pleasure to hear that Asians and Europeans have found a common
ground on which to share views and discuss ways to cooperate.
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