Chairman Goh Kun (center) presides over the first meeting of the Presidential Commission on Social Cohesion yesterday. [Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald]
A newly launched presidential advisory group plans to develop a new indicator to measure progress in social cohesion this year.
The Presidential Commission on Social Cohesion also said it will push a national campaign to help revive forests in North Korea, as part of efforts to reconcile not only two Koreas but also conservatives and progressive in the south.
The panel, launched on Dec. 23, held its inaugural meeting to discuss its priorities and business plans for this year.
The commission is in charge of developing and coordinating programs to address social strains caused by income disparities, generational divides and ideological and regional conflicts.
The new index will gauge different social and economic factors affecting social cohesion and will be reflected by future policies, the commission said.
New methods to assess government policies' effects on social integration will also be developed, it said.
The 48-member commission chaired by former Prime Minister Goh Kun announced its 10 core projects for this year to mitigate disparities and bipolarization and make political and regional divides manageable.
The panel will push for a comprehensive study on a new future-oriented governance model for the nation, which overcomes limits of both the European welfare states and the Anglo-American neo-liberalism, it said.
The panel will provide a forum of both conservatives and progressives "to debate the future direction of state management which shifts away from confrontation and conflicts and promote competition and cooperation," it said.
The panel will also form a joint commission of various groups, from both left and right, to push for the reforestation project for North Korea.
According to the North's report in 2000, about 28 percent of its forests there were destroyed as of the late 1990s.
"We need projects that all the people, whether conservatives and progressives, can participate in together. Social cohesion will be get a boost while all the people join in planting trees in North Korea," Goh told reporters.
President Lee Myung-bak recently told officials to consider helping the North rehabilitate its forests as part of inter-Korean cooperation as well as his green growth strategy.
The panel's another priority work is the improvement of conflict-ridden urban redevelopment projects.
Five evictees and urban poor activists and one policeman were killed during a clash over redevelopment in Yongsan, Seoul, early last year. More conflicts are expected as a total of 736 projects are underway.
The commission will review current redevelopment methods and explore measures to prevent conflicts, it said.
Other important projects include enhancing sense of social responsibility among elites, combating poverty and wealth gaps, and reforming electoral systems to cope with regional antagonism.
It would also push for institutional measures and procedures to avoid and manage conflicts and promote a more harmonious family life and better accommodate immigrants and defectors from North Korea.
The panel consists of 16 government ministers and 32 civilian members from various sectors.
It will operate four subcommittees, each in charge of economic, ideological, regional and generational divides.
The commission will play a key role in pushing President Lee Myung-bak's policy initiative for improving welfare for the poor and forging political harmony and social cohesion, Cheong Wa Dae said.
Lee in August announced the plan to create the committee "to overcome divides and conflicts and realize a warm liberalism and a mature democracy."
(jjhwang@heraldm.com)
By Hwang Jang-jin
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