Yoon Regarded as Listener, Not Initiator
By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
Yoon Jeung-hyun, 62, is regarded as pro-business, pragmatic, career policymaker who has devoted decades of his public service to financial policies. His overseas stint at the Asian Development Bank has given him a good opportunity to learn that Korean economic policymakers must gain confidence both from domestic and international players.
His charismatic leadership is expected to be crucial in getting an inter-ministry consensus on key economic policy issues. He is regarded as a listener rather than an initiator. As the deputy finance minister in 1997, he oversaw the demise of Hanbo group just months before the financial crisis shook the country.
The strong advocate of a market economy has invited undue criticism from progressive economic watchdog groups that he is pro-chaebol. As the chairman of the Financial Service Commission, he allowed life insurers to be listed on the Korea Stock Exchange after three decades of contentious debate.
Yoon's weak point is, as a Seoul professor pointed out, his lack of vision for the economy. As a career bureaucrat, he has shown great talent in managing micro issues but failed to set a clear vision for macro ones.
Yoon is not expected to repeat the same mistake his predecessor, Kang Man-soo, committed, namely, opening the way for talking down the value of the Korean won in the name of boosting exports. In 1997, when the currency crisis shook the nation, then finance-economy minister Kang was Yoon's boss.
The nominee is expected to maintain good team work as top financial regulator Chin Dong-soo and chief economic policy secretary for President Lee Myung-bak, Yoon Jin-shik, have been working at the financial policy bureau of the now-defunct Ministry of Finance. Chin and Yoon Jin-shik have maintained good teamwork under Yoon Jeung-hyun's leadership. The troika is comprised of old boys at the former finance ministry; in other words, financial experts with no macroeconomic policy experience.
His predecessor, Kang, has been criticized for a lack of leadership, as he failed to take the initiative in setting the direction for economic policies and lost the confidence of the market. He has also been under constant pressure from opposition parties and civic groups for his controversial economic policies.
Born in 1946, Yoon majored in law at Seoul National University and passed the state civil examination in 1971, starting his career as a civil servant. He spent most of his time at the finance ministry, where he accumulated expertise in taxation and finance.
Yoon headed the ministry's financial market division when the nation was hit by the Asian financial crisis in late 1997. He was forced to leave the post and then went to Manila, serving as a country representative at the Asia Development Bank (ADB).
Yoon returned as head of the Financial Supervisory Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service in 2004 under the former Roh Moo-hyun administration. He held the title until 2007.
Since the inauguration of the Lee administration early last year, Yoon has been serving as an economic advisor to President Lee.