Market-friendly policies expected

Hyun Oh-seok, the nominee for the deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs, is expected to place top priority on maintaining a balance between economic growth and social welfare, to restore the middle class and revitalize the sluggish economy.

“I think we should carry out policies to boost our sluggish economy in the short term, while at the same time balancing economic growth and welfare over the long term,” he said Sunday at a news conference at the Korean Development Institute (KDI), which he currently heads.

His remarks are in line with President-elect Park Geun-hye’s presidential pledges to address welfare issues as well as boost the economy crippled by the global downturn, unemployment and historically-high levels of household debt.

Market experts said that the bureaucrat-turned-professor will come up with market-friendly policies, given his wide range of experience and broad academic background.

“He is a moderate rationalist,” Yang Soo-gil, chairman of the Korea Pacific Economic Cooperation Council, said. “As he was a government official in the finance ministry, he is expected to come up with market-friendly policies.”

Prof. Cho Dong-chul of KDI School, also echoed Yang’s view, saying he will be very supportive of Park’s economic policies.

“He is not picky or anything but he is a man with a gentle nature. He doesn’t force his ideas on people. He is a good supporter for President-elect Park,” he said.

Hyun is also described as scholarly, and has a skeptical stance on the “democratization of the economy” and a revised supplementary budget. This implies that he may put the brakes on Park’s aggressive social welfare policies.

He is also a supporter of the idea that Asia should form its own free-trading block, so as to compete with other regional blocks such as the European Union and NAFTA.

Another surprise nominee is entrepreneur Kim Jeong-hoon, president of Bell Labs and chief strategy officer of Alcatel-Lucent, a global telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Paris, who will head the future creative science ministry.

Kim faces daunting tasks in leading the newly-formed ministry, which will combine scientific and technological developments with industry in a way that will spur job creation and develop new growth engines.

It will take over a number of roles from other ministries as the main government branch in charge of science and technology as well as IT and communications issues.

Critics say the new ministry will become a “mammoth ministry” because it will be in charge of too many key industry policies, and Park’s choice for Kim seems to have taken into consideration his success in the private sector.

Another minister nominee who will be involved in economic policies in the incoming government is Yoon Sang-jick, who was designated as minister of industry, commerce and energy. Yoon, a career bureaucrat with expertise in exports and policies for small businesses, is expected to transform his ministry into one with a focus on energy and shared growth. <The Korea Times/Kim Tae-jong>