It is necessary to find ways to survive in a world of crisis

Nov 09, 2023, 10:43 am

AsiaToday reporters Lee Kyu-sung & Lee Jung-yeon

Since the war between Israel and Hamas conflict broke out, the death toll has exceeded 10,000. There is a gloomy outlook that it will head into the worst urban warfare since World War II. The war between Russia and Ukraine, which took place earlier, has continued for more than a year, with no end to it.

The global economy is facing challenges. Oil price volatility is increasing amid wars, and there are concerns that the continued surge in the dollar and high interest rates will deepen the global economic downturn.

International conflicts and rapid economic fluctuations can affect the world, and can negatively influence Korea’s society, economy, and politics. In particular, the global economic crisis can bring shrinking exports, corporate management difficulties, employment cuts, and inflation, affecting the Korean economy.

In this era of new normal of crisis, experts stress that active response should be taken against international conflicts and economic fluctuations. They point out that diplomatic efforts for international cooperation and stability, and preemptive measures to deal with economic crisis are urgently needed.

“The amount of crude oil introduction in the Middle East, which fell to 59.8 percent in 2021, surged to 70.2 percent in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine,” Yoo Kwang-ho, a researcher of the Africa and the Middle East Team at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), said. “South Korea needs to come up with a policy for crude oil supply and demand with the spread of the Israeli war in mind,” he said, adding that the country should prepare for the worst-case scenario if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz.

In addition to potential physical war against North Korea, experts say South Korea needs to prepare for cyberwarfare. The power of cyberwarfare has been revealed in the war in Ukraine. During the war, major data from Ukrainian government offices were removed without knowing reasons. As a result, the Ukraine government urgently received backup with the help of Microsoft in the United States.

“Large cyberattacks occurred in the Israeli war systematically and continuously,” said Song Tae-eun, a professor at Korea National Diplomatic Academy. “North Korea is conducting cyber espionage activities that collect information by infiltrating into the computer network which goes beyond creating erros like the DDos attack in the past.” The North is already conducting cyberattacks against the U.S., Russia, China and Africa.

In this situation, many experts point out that diplomatic efforts for international cooperation and stability are important, and it is necessary to prepare economic countermeasures. Kim Jung-sik, an honorary professor of economics at Yonsei University, and Je Sung-hoon, a professor of the Russian Language at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said that it is time to prepare for low economic growth in the new normal era where the war of hegemony between China and the United States continues, and to make steady efforts to build peace on the Korean Peninsula.

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