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| Creating an Engine of Hope |
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Creating an Engine of Hope
An interview with Won Soon Park - By Randy Colwell
Over the past three decades, Mr. Won-Soon Park has worked to bring institutional changes and social justice to Korea. It isn’t difficult to relate what led Mr. Park to his life's work of promoting social justice and institutional change, which dates as far back as 1975.
It was in precisely in 1975 that Mr. Park, then a student at Seoul National University, was imprisoned for expressing his beliefs through student activism. His political predicament did not daunt him, but, instead, made him more resolute in the face of an oppressive regime. Since that time, a series of thoughts and ambitions have been germinating in Mr. Park’s fertile mind on how to bring about changes and improvement for South Korea, including institutionalization and democratization projects.
Not only is Mr. Park a world-traveler, but he is also a social scientist skilled at brainstorming ideas gathered from across the globe. His transatlantic student experiences in both the UK (London School of Economics) and the US (Harvard University) have enriched his spiritual outlook. His ideas are now aimed at promoting institutional changes in South Korea rather than being locked up inside the ivory towers of Academia.
In 1994, for instance, he founded the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), an advocacy group encouraging people to participate by democratic means in order to bring about social changes. Then, in 2000, he created the Beautiful Foundation, an advocacy organization dedicated to rebuilding philanthropy by promoting a culture of giving. His latest project is the Hope Institute.
Mr. Park's role within the Hope Institute is uniquely different from his previous occupations, such as activist, human rights attorney, Secretary-General of the PSPD and Director and fundraiser for The Beautiful Foundation, among others. His new role is referred to as 'social designer'. For one thing, he intended the Hope Institute, as a think-tank, to be a blueprint for the future of Korean society.
Compared to the endless numbers of other think-tanks in South Korea, the Hope Institute stands in stark relief, in that it is distinctly independent, both in terms of its perspectives and its organizational structure. For one thing, government or business groups generally establish most think-tanks. This usually creates a vested interest in power or entrepreneurship. By contrast, the Hope Institute is a civil society-based organization that will engage, but remain independent from, government as well as business groups.
The Hope Institute is, therefore, an alternative, people-based, culturally-oriented think-tank: an impartial and independent voice in the midst of the fragmented and competing viewpoints of both liberals and conservatives. Moreover, the Institute is committed to bringing together the views of all Koreans - from those living in Korea as well as those living abroad.
The Institute will propose many concrete ideas to the administrative and industrial sectors, and will collaborate with them in order to make our society more productive.
Apart from collaborating with the government and business groups, the Institute will also assemble ideas from rank-and-file citizens and specialists from a wide variety of backgrounds. This is deeply rooted in the belief that together we can create pragmatic, policy-oriented and concrete ideas for institutional changes.
While the Institute has a concrete, ideological underpinning on the one hand, and pragmatic, policy-oriented goals on the other, it hopes that its ideas will radiate out and transform society on a larger scale. To do this, it will begin with a relatively small agenda, examine its different facets, and try to make a positive impact upon society.
Mr. Park has a vision of building a wide network among think-tanks. According to him, the Hope Institute would take the initiative in building a partnership with other think-tanks and institutes, in South Korea and abroad. By doing this he to establish the very collaborative power that we hope will serve our purposes.
Mr. Park is passionate about Hope Institute. He feels it can become one of the major social forces to implement justice and play an important role in driving positive institutional changes for Korean society and all who live within it.
Randy Colwell is currently based in South Korea. randy.colwell@kcl.ac.uk
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