[Book Review] We Are Heading Toward a Country Where We Cannot Live Together

This book delivers a powerful sense of urgency as strong as its firm and straightforward title. The subtitle, , hints at the message the book intends to convey.

"Since its founding, the Republic of Korea is facing the crisis of becoming the first nation where future generations will be worse off than their predecessors. Where exactly are we headed?... (omitted)... What kind of legacy do we want to leave to our future generations who will be the main actors of tomorrow? Will we leave behind extreme ideological conflicts and political struggles, and a distorted economy that is neither a market economy nor a socialist economy? Under such circumstances, can we continue the journey of the past 60 years where future generations have prospered more than their predecessors?"

The book logically dissects the problems of the current political system and the fallacies of economic policies. It is not a futile ideal or rhetoric dreamed up at a desk. It analyzes economic indicators in detail and boldly criticizes how government policies have repeatedly failed. In particular, it diagnoses the real-world consequences of the government's attempts to lead the market.

Part 1 sheds light on a lost Republic of Korea with chapters such as , , , , , , , , and .

Part 2 offers proposals for building a prosperous nation together, including <‘Experiment’ Before ‘Action’>, , , , , , , , and .

"Ideological constraints such as left or right, conservative or progressive, do not matter to us. The only value is to propose an alternative for Korea to overcome today’s crisis based solely on the globally proven national development values of freedom and democracy, creating a country where even the lowest income groups among our future generations can continuously live more prosperously and happily than their predecessors."

The authors devote much of the book to criticizing the current government but clearly state that this is not simply about rejecting the left and supporting the right. It appears as a declaration not to be trapped by the established generation’s framework that has seized power based on past factional logic. It reads as a genuine intention to reflect on the present and future of the Republic of Korea, not criticism for the sake of criticism.

"The harms caused by the five-year single-term presidential system in Korea, the collapse of education needed to develop free democratic citizens, ‘low-class capitalist’ entrepreneurs who forget the moral sensibility and duties essential as market economy participants, the oversized yet incompetent executive branch’s major reforms, and the National Assembly caught up in ideological rather than practical public discourse?these and more topics require our follow-up work."

Professors with expertise in various fields such as Kang Young-cheol, Lee Hyuk-woo, Kim Jin-guk, Ok Dong-seok, Kwak No-sung, Bae Won-gi, and Lee Min-chang co-authored the book. The authors also previewed the themes for their next book, openly expressing their plan to rigorously examine the limits and problems of the Republic of Korea. The anticipation for the next book is already growing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.