[KS] Virtuous Female Leader

Frank M. Tedesco tedesco at uriel.net
Wed Jul 15 10:43:25 EDT 1998


>      07-15-98 : Minister Kim Mo-im Role Model as Capable,
>      Virtuous Female Leader
> 
>      Shin Hye-son Staff reporter
> 
>      When Health and Welfare Minister Kim Mo-im assumed her post in
>      April, ministry officials told her that they only wished for her
>      to finish her tenure without any trouble.
> 
>      Their attitude was not surprising. Three of Kim's four female
>      predecessors were forced to leave the post in less than nine
>      months from their inauguration after getting embroiled in various
>      types of controversy.
> 
>      Kim's immediate predecessor, Joo Yang-ja, stepped down after only
>      56 days due to a scandal over her shady real estate dealings.
> 
>      The post of health and welfare minister, as a result, has often
>      been dubbed by the media as ``the grave for women leaders.''
> 
>      Minister Kim got the message.
> 
>      ``I will try my best to become a minister who has nothing to be
>      ashamed of when looking up to heaven,'' she said in an interview
>      with The Korea Herald. ``I wish I could set up an example,
>      thereby allowing more chances for younger women.''
> 
>      Kim is determined to contribute to women holding leadership
>      positions in society in greater numbers. She said that she felt
>      deep sorrow when it was lamented that there are few talented
>      female leaders in Korea. ``Among laboring classes, about 40 to 50
>      percent are women but among the higher ranks, it's true that
>      there are few women who are ready to take up leadership,'' she
>      said.
> 
>      Her ministry recently embarked on a project to produce female
>      leaders in cooperation with women's organizations. They have
>      allocated a budget of 1.5 billion won. The ministry is also
>      seeking to help working women, who as a minority in Korea, are
>      concerned that their struggle for equal treatment in the
>      workplace may get undermined by the current economic crisis.
> 
>      Minister Kim is known as a `godmother' of Korean nurses. Born in
>      1935 in Seoul, she graduated from Yonsei University and studied
>      at the University of Hawaii and Johns Hopkins University in the
>      United States, where she obtained her doctorate in nursing
>      science. Upon returning home, she taught at her alma mater for
>      many years and served as a ruling party legislator in the early
>      1980s. She also headed various health-related organizations
>      including Planned Parenthood Federation in Korea.
> 
>      Still single at age 63, she often publicly vaunts, ``I love my
>      work so much that I have married it.''
> 
>      Ministry officials say that her background as an expert in health
>      affairs is enabling her to rapidly grasp the ministry's
>      operations.
> 
>      However, there are some large stones in the path ahead of her.
> 
>      Faced with an ever higher public demand for better welfare
>      policies at this time of national economic debacle, her ministry
>      is grappling with an increasing number of homeless people and
>      abandoned children.
> 
>      To help the homeless, whose number is expected to grow to 6,000
>      from the current 3,000 by the end of this year, the ministry
>      plans to construct 40 more shelters and to use some 500 partially
>      used welfare centers as temporary homeless shelters.
> 
>      These shelters will offer free room and board and give counseling
>      to their residents to help them find jobs and return to their
>      families. A 20 billion won budget has been set aside for this
>      purpose.
> 
>      The ministry has also secured a 180 billion won budget to
>      stabilize the employment of people in low-income brackets and to
>      protect their livelihood.
> 
>      The number of people who currently receive governmental
>      livelihood assistance stands at 1,175,000. But the ministry
>      believes that the number will soon increase to about 1.5 million
>      due to the massive unemployment expected to continue into later
>      this year.
> 
>      Complex matters such as expanding the national pension system to
>      cover self-employed persons in urban areas and integrating the
>      current three types of medical insurance into one are also
>      putting heavy pressure on the ministry.
> 
>      ``I believe that my ministry has a lot of things to do for social
>      integrity and stability,'' Kim said. ``With a service oriented
>      mind, we are focusing on wiping away the tears of underprivileged
>      people such as the poor, disabled and the elderly, and
>      encouraging them for life.''
> 
>      She said that the ministry is drawing up a five-year plan for
>      developing the nation's health and medical sectors. ``So far
>      there has been some long-term plans only for improving the
>      welfare system. But you know health management is an essential
>      part of promoting the level of quality in people's lives,'' she
>      said.
> 
>      ``During my term of office, I will endeavor to lay the foundation
>      for a welfare safety net. Then I will be able to call my public
>      service a success,'' she said.
> 
>      A devout Christian, Minister Kim is known to always carry a note
>      to donate her body to Yonsei University for medical study after
>      she dies.
> 
>      [Image]
> 
>            Copyright 1998 Korea Herald. All rights reserved.
>                      Designed by ISM Corporation
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/kh0715/m0715l01.html

-- 


Frank Tedesco, Ph.D.
Occasional lecturer, University of Maryland
Assistant Professor
Sejong University
98 Kunjadong, Kwangjin-gu
Seoul 143-747 KOREA
Tel/fax: 82-2-997-3954
E-mail: tedesco at uriel.net

"Life is a terminal disease, and it's sexually transmitted."
John Cleese, the Buddhist.


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