[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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