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Editorial: An unwelcome guest

Former South Korean president Kim Young-sam, who was blacklisted by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), will arrive in Taiwan on Wednesday for a five-day visit at the invitation of the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration. When this information became known, it startled many in the media and academia, who asked, "what is he coming for?"

If it weren't for Kim's incompetence, South Korea would not have suffered the serious financial crisis that struck in July 1997 and cost the country and its people over half of their assets. Kim is an unscrupulous politician who became obsessed with the presidency while still in high school. The disasters he brought upon the country were no less than those wrought by the bloody-handed military dictators that preceded him.

The quote from Kim that left the deepest impression on the people of South Korea was spoken when some people voiced concern that his habit of a morning jog might lead people to believe he was an "able-bodied but simple-minded president." He replied, "a healthy body is more important than a brain. Other people's brains can be borrowed, but health can't be borrowed."

But after the 1997 financial crisis became the greatest disaster for the nation since the Korean War, South Koreans discovered that he was an idiot without even the brains to borrow the brains of others and the most incompetent president they had had in half a century.

So why has Kim has been invited? Could it be that he is coming here to learn how to rescue an economy from financial crisis? The only person with the qualifications to teach him is Lee, but Lee would never be willing to do so. (In late 1992, Lee was instrumental in helping Kim to get elected, but Kim was ungrateful for the help.)

Kim says that he wants to come to act as a mediator between Taipei and Seoul on the issue of resuming direct air links. But it's doubtful whether the Kim Dae-jung administration would authorize him to engage in such discussions. If the Chen administration wants to hold talks, they need to talk with the current administration.

Looking at the outstanding issues between Taiwan and South Korea, the trade deficit -- which reached US$6 billion last year -- is more pressing than aviation links. South Korea is now second only to Japan in size of its trade deficit with Taiwan. However, not a single Taiwan government official has been heard raising this problem in connection with Kim's visit.

Given its deteriorating economic situation, can the Taiwan government still continue to wink at the growing trade deficit and not request that South Korea try to settle the problem? Could it be that the Chen administration has invited Kim so that he can teach us how to ruin the economy?

Another question is whether or not Kim is like other former heads of state who accept invitations from prominent business or academic institutions to visit Taiwan in order to line their own pockets. He doesn't have the stature to do so, especially compared to former leaders such as Margaret Thatcher, George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev. If a large sum of money was used to entice him to visit, then the political judgement and international outlook of the Presidential Office leaves us shaking our heads all the more.

Kim should come to Taiwan prepared to be mocked for his incompetence and mismanagement of national affairs. But who dares hope that this kind of brainless klutz will know himself well enough to understand?
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