Leader of Liberty Forward Party Lee Hoi-Chang Gives Lecture on the Federal System Liberty Forward Party leader (and former candidate of presidential elections) Lee Hoi-Chang visited Yonsei University on October 6 to give a lecture at the Leadership Lectures hosted by the Leadership Development Center. This was Lee’s third visit to Yonsei, though his two previous visits were as the leader of the GNP. Lee opened his speech with a possible consciousness of this change. “Thank you for inviting the leader of a small party. This reflects Yonsei’s interest in smaller political parties.” The 400 students applauded this comment. Lee’s lecture was on the “Pioneering Spirit Toward the Future”. He first defined the pioneering spirit. “The pioneering spirit is not something grand; it is the mindset of not being engulfed in the present but looking toward the future.” He shared his experiences during the Korean War and his life as a judge. His message for the students was to “Open your eyes and see the future.” Lee also proposed a plan for national development. His main statement was that “the constitution must be revised to allow for a federal system. A nation that is centralized in one city cannot bring the energy and potential of the nation together and weakens the provincial areas. Countries such as Finland or Singapore have populations of only about five million but rank high in international competitiveness. Korea must divide its regions into small states like Singapore that can be effectively managed.” Regarding the union system, Lee proposed the strategy of “dividing the nation into the central Seoul area, the western area of Chungnam and Jeonbuk, the Southern area of Jeonnam and Gyeongnam, and the eastern area of Gyeonggbuk and Gangwon” and criticized the proposal of the GNP and the Democratic Party to combine three to four cities or other administrative districts as “an anachronistic policy which centralizes power.” During the Q&A session, the students asked several difficult questions, such as “What have you learned after two presidential elections” and “What makes a good judge”, to which Lee responded well. Regarding the question of his past election strategies, he answered, “If I’d known, would I be where I am now? I have realized that truly connecting with the people is the most important thing.”