(G20) (Yonhap Interview) Marcus Nonald

(Yonhap Interview) S. Korea's G20 hosting to be equivalent to Seoul Olympics: scholar
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's hosting of the G20 summit next
year will be a boon to its image as well as its economy, equivalent in prestige
to the Seoul Olympics in 1988, a scholar said Friday.

"While this effect will be as profound as it was at the time of the 1988
Olympics, it is an opportunity for Korea to demonstrate its strengths to the rest
of the world, and that can only have a positive impact on Korea's economy in the
long run," said Marcus Noland, a senior researcher at the Washington-based
Peterson Institute for International Economics, in an interview with Yonhap News
Agency.
The Seoul Summer Olympics helped to greatly enhance the image of South Korea,
which emerged as a leading developing economy from the ashes of the 1950-53
Korean War and decades of Japanese colonial rule.
The leaders of the Group of 20 major advanced and developing nations agreed
earlier today to allow South Korea to host the fifth summit in November next
year. Canada will host of the fourth summit in June.
In a joint news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in
Pittsburgh, the venue for this year's G20 summit, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
Harper said earlier in the day that Canada, the rotating chair of the G8 summit
next year, will host the G20 forum on the margins of the G8 meeting.
But the November 2010 summit, Noland agreed, reflects a much-discussed power
shift to South Korea, China, India and other emerging economies from the eight
advanced economies, which have often been under fire, along with the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank, for their lack of action to head off
the ongoing economic crisis stemming from relaxed financial regulations in Wall
Street.
The G8 nations now represent about half the global economic production, down from
more than 80 percent, while the G20 economies contribute more than 85 percent.
That prompted the previous George W. Bush administration to organize the G20 in
November last year after the subprime mortgage crisis triggered the worst
recession in decades.
"The G20 should eclipse the G8 as the informal steering committee of the world
economy," the scholar said. "The G8 should become a caucus within the G20. From
now on, the G8 should meet on the sidelines of the G20."
Noland attributed South Korea's successful bid to host the G20 summit next year
to the hard work of South Korean officials and the growing stature of the South
Korean economy. South Korea has experienced the fastest recovery since late last
year and has taken a leading role in setting a recovery agenda that includes
green development and anti-protectionism.
"Diplomatically, Korea's hosting of the G20 next year is a big deal," he said.
"Korean policymakers are considered highly capable and the rest of the world is
looking for good things to come out of the summit that Korea will host."
President Lee established a task force late last year to prepare for its
attendance at the first G20 summit in Washington in November, and engaged in a
flurry of diplomacy to help institutionalize the G20 summit as a possible
alternative to G8.
Seoul supported Tokyo's bid to host the second G20 summit early this year, but
London was chosen for the April G20 summit.
This time, South Korean officials successfully sought Japanese support, and also
won Chinese support, virtually eliminating possible competition in Asia.
Noland said he doubts that the G20 summit will have much of an immediate impact
on Korea's economic recovery "apart from some extra tourism receipts associated
with the influx of foreigners," but added, "It does represent a major opportunity
for Korea to reintroduce itself to many people from around the world who may have
misleading or outdated perceptions of the country."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)