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Song Kyung-jin

Song Kyung-jin led the Institute for Global Economics (IGE), based in Seoul. Now, she chairs the international cooperation committee called the Innovative Economy Forum.

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Song Kyung-jin

Why Korea needs flexible and prosperous Indo-Pacific vision

By Song Kyung-jin I take the liberty of guessing that perhaps it is the by-elections taking place in the two largest cities in Korea that forced the government to make two rushed announcements in the space of a week. One was about the immediate possibility of a Korea-U.S. summit within the month of April, and the other was the possibility of a Korea-China bilateral summit soon after the COVID-19 pandemic comes under control. Neither was confirmed by the counterparts. It has in effect undermined the credibility of the Korean government. But at the bottom of it all lies the alleged fact that Korea feels lost with its “strategic ambiguity” in dealing with the great power rivalry between China and the United States.Amid escalating US-China tensions, new and renewed ideas and proposals are mushrooming to manage global governance more efficiently. As recently as late March, seasoned diplomacy experts like Richard Haass and Charles Kupchan brought up an idea of a concert of powers, a global steering group, modelled after the Concert of Europe in the 19th century. The proposed id

Apr 6, 2021By Song Kyung-jin
Why Korea needs flexible and prosperous Indo-Pacific vision
Song Kyung-jin

WTO leadership race

By Song Kyung-jinApart from the COVID-19 pandemic, there was another event in 2020 that Korea should not miss taking stock of, registering the results in our collective memory in order to strive for more refined diplomacy. It was Korea's decision to enter into the race for the director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO). There are four criteria that provide useful guidelines for this reflection: the regional rotation rule, broadly applied; competition between candidates; internal and external coordination and communication; and strategic objectives.The tacit rule of regional rotation has been broadly applied to most multilateral institutions, including the WTO. It will likely remain in the future, unless there is a dramatic rupture in the organization itself. Korea's nomination and its seriousness about it rather surprised the global community. It was widely believed to be Africa's turn to assume leadership this time. A glance at the list of the past heads of most international organizations, including the United Nations, reveals how leadership selection processes in multi

Mar 9, 2021By Song Kyung-jin
WTO leadership race
Song Kyung-jin

Pension reform: the sooner, the better

By Song Kyung-jin The world is bombarded with the news of Donald Trump's impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives and the following trial by the Senate.On the other side of the Atlantic, one of the political pivots has been moving toward the pension reform plan by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, in accordance with his campaign promise to reform the 42 pension regimes and the way that France thinks.Macron's audacious plan was met with strong opposition and disruptive strikes, along with keen attention from around the world. So, while reaffirming his intent to push through the reform agenda, he offered an interim compromise to delay retirement.The French government's reform plan is providing timely food for thought to Korea, the world's fastest-aging country with the world's lowest birthrate, which is likely to face similar pension problems in the not-too-distant future.Korea is one country that should be prepared quickly to take on the imminent challenges posed by the rapid shifts in demography and thus the pension regimes in order to make them fairer and more sustainab

Jan 1, 2020By Song Kyung-jin
Pension reform: the sooner, the better
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