[Insight & Opinion] We Need 'Kind Visitors' to Resolve the Total Crisis

[Asia Economy] Meeting with corporate executives, they sighed that issuing corporate bonds has become difficult. It is due to the irresponsible remarks of the Governor of Gangwon Province. Another said that obtaining parts is like a war. Yet the government only blames the Russia-Ukraine war. In the startup community, investments have completely stopped. On Facebook, posts complaining about the increase in comprehensive real estate tax payers have risen. Here, the Democratic Party also bears responsibility. Most of the new ministers and key public officials are outdated figures. The local governments undergoing major reshuffles are generally the same. Among them, there was even someone who ordered a civic organization not to use words like ‘citizen,’ ‘participation,’ and ‘innovation.’

These days, it is openly said that public officials do not work. Festival and cultural planners who were about to start working again after three years became unemployed again thanks to public officials who indiscriminately banned events. How are they supposed to survive until the off-season from December to April if they cannot earn now? A high school student drew a parody character, but was accused of plagiarism and related agencies are auditing the case. That student might leave Korea.

Why did the Cargo Solidarity strike escalate? The Prime Minister denied the reason for the strike by saying that the monthly income of Cargo Solidarity workers is 5 to 6 million won. The President ordered to consider issuing a work commencement order. Is this the right response? Have they seen the sad fact displayed on highway information boards stating ‘Sharp increase in deaths, 61% are cargo trucks’? Do they not understand that such accidents are risk factors that can lead not only the drivers themselves but also other citizens on the road to death?

Even after the tragic Itaewon disaster, the Presidential Office shifts the blame to others. Even when the bereaved family representative appeared on broadcast urging not to shift responsibility but to offer a sincere apology first, no senior government official responded. It seems they are calculating that the mood of the Qatar World Cup will sweep this away. Candlelight rallies are growing larger, but the numbers are only announced as smaller.

They should change personnel and communicate with the public, but instead hold a strange dinner inviting only the ruling party. The accident response is so strange it raises doubts about its structure. They went abroad using taxpayers’ money, but instead of bringing back joyful diplomatic achievements, they only return with a bundle of low-level controversies.

Regarding the MBC broadcasting issue, international press organizations have condemned Korea’s press suppression. The BTS era’s meaning of ‘Dreamers,’ sung at the Qatar World Cup opening ceremony, and the accumulated K reputation have been rendered meaningless. This total crisis is mostly due to the verbal disasters caused by incompetent human resources lacking empathy.

The song ‘Dreamers’ sung by Jungkook starts with "♬Look who we are / We are dreamers / We will achieve it." How will they achieve it? Professor Kim Wichan praised the 1996 Cirque du Soleil work Quidam in his book ‘Blue Ocean Strategy.’ Quidam means ‘anonymous visitor’ and has a story.

Between a father who only focuses on reading newspapers and a mother who only knits while listening to the radio, lonely girl Joy begins a journey into a fantasy world wearing a hat left by the headless Quidam in a trench coat. After completing the journey, Joy begins to see the world as a space of hope and harmony.

The power of such a visitor is sometimes great. The author has also met such unexpectedly kind visitors several times. When direction was unknown, exhausted, or blaming others, they appeared. Each time, the author learned and leveled up. Those visitors were not rainmakers but were around. There were professors, celebrities, and young employees. If you open your eyes, open your heart, and properly recognize the problem, you can always welcome them.

Those kind visitors are people who, in addition to ability, have good intentions and seek to transform the world. What Korea needs now might be dreamers and Quidam. Dreamers who empathize with the girl’s loneliness and alienation and take her to a fantasy world!

Hwang Inseon, Marketer and Writer