President Lee Myung-bak urged the nation to march together to cope with the current economic crisis. President Lee took part in a nationally-televised roundtable talk hosted by SBS TV on January 30. Panelists exchanged opinions on how President Lee should exercise his leadership in this time of crisis sweeping the world.
According to the Cheongwadae Briefing, President Lee expressed his deep sympathy to the people whose sons and daughters have failed to get jobs, and whose husbands have lost jobs. He then called on citizens to collect their courage and wisdom to overcome the economic difficulties. “The government will be more determined to cope with the difficulties,” said Lee. “As a hopeful indicator,” he cited foreign economic experts' predictions, “Korea will be one of the fastest countries to improve its economic conditions next year.” He added that our economy will see an upturn in 2010, regardless of foreign economic institutions' outlook.
The President encouraged the nation by saying “history proves that the Koreans are a great people.” He recalled that the country emerged as one of the world's largest economies from the ashes and ruins of the Korean War beyond the lack of resources or funds.
He went on to say that the government is trying to overcome the current crisis, noting that it will also make sufficient preparations for the future. He emphasized that opportunities for the future don't come by accident, but will come to those who have made them. He then promised that the government will make it happen.
He asked the citizens to trust the government so that it can work hard. He demanded the politicians not to take to the streets in the unprecedented financial crisis, but to hold dialogue to produce tangible results. Citing the urgent need to overcome the economic crisis, he reminded the citizens that the government has already begun spending its budget for this year about three months earlier than scheduled. He concluded his remarks by saying, “I will take the initiative to overcome the crisis.”
Emergency Council talks on Job-sharing
A President-led Emergency Economic Council, the fourth, was held at The Blue House, or Cheongwadae, on January 29 with the theme of Job Sharing. In the council, the Korea Development Institute, a think tank on the economy, emphasized that the global economic recession is getting worse as predicted by the IMF. The IMF has recently announced in a revised estimate that the world economic growth rate will go further down from 2.2 percent to 0.5 percent.
Minister of Strategy and Finance Kang Man-soo pointed out that the world economy seemed to be going from bad to worse. Special Economic Advisor Il Sakong seconded Kang's words, saying that economic optimism is being taken over by pessimism.
Chief Grand National Party policymaker Yim Tae-hee said that people should not respond in between joy and grief at economic indicators. He recalled the time when we had overcome a negative 6.9 percent growth in the 1997-1998 foreign exchange disaster.
President Lee asked the ranking officials at the meeting not to merely fiddle with numbers but to get fully prepared for the deadly economic scenario. The Cheongwadae Briefing quoted President Lee as saying that they would take the joint suggestion by the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korea Employers Federation into consideration to launch an emergency labor union meeting.
The President also said that public and banking enterprises should take the lead in recent job sharing efforts.
A CEO of a small-sized auto parts company was also at the council to tell of his company's experience of overcoming economic difficulties. The Briefing reported that his employees, during the 1997-1998 recession, had given their bonuses back to the faltering company in efforts to save it. According to the CEO, the workers have lately agreed again to the company's proposal to cut their bonuses.
Gov't Maps Out 17 New Growth Engines
The government has finalized its blueprint mapping out 17 new national growth engines which will lead the economy over the next 10 years.
According to the Cheongwadae Briefing, the blueprint was announced in a joint session of the 29th National Science & Technology Council and the third Presidential Council for Future & Vision. President Lee Myung-bak presided over the meeting at the Blue House on the morning of January 13.
The 17 new national growth engines are as follows: six projects in green technology industries, including new renewable energies, low-carbon energies, LED applications, and green transportation systems; six in state-of-the-art fusion industries, such as IT fusion systems, robot applications, and biomedicines; five in high valued-added industries including global healthcare, global education services, green financing, meetings, incentives, conventions, events and the tourism industry.
The engines focus on securing growth potential by using all policy means available, including research and development, improvement of taxation and other systems and manpower development, the Cheongwadae Briefing said.
The government especially plans to induce civilian participation in the projects by linking the Green New Deal, which was announced on January 6, with its latest R&D Projects for Green Technologies.
The Briefing reported that the government will inject more than 6.3 trillion won (US$4.6 billion) to implement R&D projects over the next four years while increasing the ratio of investment in basic research into original technologies from 17 percent, or 150 billion won (US$109.5 million) in 2007 to 35 percent, or 700 billion won (US$511 million) by 2012.
If the blueprint for new growth engines is successfully implemented, the value added will amount to 700 trillion won (US$511 billion) by 2018, and exports from new growth engines will increase 18 percent annually on average. “About 3.5 million new quality jobs will be created over the next decade, and people's quality of life will therefore be improved,” the government predicted.
Sunset Rules to be Effective on Regulations
The Cheongwadae Briefing also reported that sunset rules would apply to all government regulations which lose their effectiveness and whose feasibility should be examined again after their validity expires. This policy was made at the Presidential Council on National Competitiveness (PCNC) in its 10th meeting held at Cheongwadae under President Lee Myung-bak's chairmanship on January 29.
At this year's first PCNC meeting, participants briefed President Lee on the achievements the council made last year and presented him with policy programs for 2009.
Reviewing the work the council has done since its founding, the President said: “You have a lot of work to do this year, too. It is, of course, important to carry out work in a way that is helpful to all projects designed to overcome the current economic crisis. What is more important is to meet the global standards once the crisis is over.”
With a view to systematically revising regulations to suit the changing environment, the government decided to apply sunset clauses to regulations on registration procedures and administrative processes. The government will also enhance the effectiveness of the sunset rules by either having regulations invalidated or reviewing their feasibility once again when their validity expires.
To be specific, the government will overhaul or revise about 1,000 economic regulations this year and about 500 social ones next year. In cooperation with economic organizations such as the Federation of Korean Industries, the government will make a careful study of regulations on about 2,500 pending applications for registrations by June, and apply the sunset rules to these regulations based on the outcome of its study.
The Briefing added that the government would give priority to applying the sunset provisions to a total of 201 suggestions for deregulation that private enterprises have made since Lee's inauguration last year. To this end, the government will revise relevant laws and rules.
Private enterprises want regulations to be lifted on the construction of factories in urban areas, parking lots attached to logistics and distribution centers, outdoor ad boards, TV ads for drinking mineral water, and investment by holding companies. A council member said: “If the sunset clauses are applied to a wider scope of regulations, it'll be possible to enhance the rationality and transparency of administrative procedures, because we will be able to make regular analyses of about 5,000 existing regulations. We expect the people to feel the impact of the government's efforts to review and improve the deregulation issue.”
