ED Policymaking chaos
Moon should go all-out to restore credibility
The Moon Jae-in administration’s flip-flopping on its policy toward the virtual currency market last week undermined its credibility and trust in the decision-making process. Moon’s policymakers should be held accountable for their incompetence and irresponsibility for triggering chaos.
The episode began Thursday morning when Justice Minister Park Sang-ki said during a press conference that his ministry was preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading and shut down all exchanges in Korea. The bill is no doubt part of measures to crack down on speculative investment in virtual currencies. He added the legislative move came after discussions with the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the Financial Services Commission (FSC).
But the presidential office backtracked on Minister Park’s plan after just seven hours. The reason was because hundreds of investors flooded the presidential website in an online petition against the plan as bitcoins and other virtual currencies were sent into a tailspin.
Presidential spokesman Yoon Young-chan said, “Nothing has been finalized at this point,” adding that the minister’s remarks were just one of the options to curb the market. Yoon’s remarks sounded as if Park hastily announced the plan without sufficient consultation and coordination with related ministries and financial regulators.
Yet it is difficult to accept the position of the presidential office. How could a Cabinet minister make public such an important policy without reaching a consensus within the government? During his news conference, Minister Park made clear there was no discord within ministries. FSC Chairman Choi Jong-ku backed Park by saying that his plan was a “coordinated” policy of the administration.
In all likelihood, the presidential office lied in the face of strong protests from investors. President Moon and his secretaries certainly could not turn a deaf ear to the protesters because most of them were in their 20s and 30s _ an age group that strongly supports the chief executive. Critics even argued that Cheong Wa Dae caved in to the investors for fear of ruling party candidates losing votes in local elections slated for June 13.
The investors certainly went too far in opposing the planned market shutdown. They called for the dismissal of Minister Park and FSC Chairman Choi, accusing the two of trying to deprive them of their dreams of being rich and happy. Some of them even regretted casting their votes for Moon in the snap election last May following the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye.
The number of online petitioners was estimated at 160,000 as of Sunday morning. If the number reaches 200,000, the presidential office is obliged to announce its official position on the issue. What is worrisome is that the Moon government might pander to the petitioners, leading to a weakening of the fight against the runaway speculation on cryptocurrencies.
Of course, it is important for the government to set out any policy based on public opinion. But government policies will get nowhere if they are too often swayed by populism. For this reason, President Moon should keep his promise to let Cabinet ministers lead the decision-making and policy-setting process without much intervention from the presidential office.
As seen in the virtual currency market fiasco, policy credibility and trust will be severely damaged if the President and his aides undo or retract each minister’s decisions and policies. So Moon and his office must go all-out to work together not only with ministries, but also the ruling and opposition parties to map out coherent and sophisticated policies based on close coordination and consensus.