 Park Geun-hye, left, head of Saenuri Party’s interim leadership body, sells a large crab at a traditional market in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province in a campaign for the National Assembly elections earlier this month. / Korea Times file |
Park seeks to create market economy with human face
By Kim Tae-gyu
Incumbent President Lee Myung-bak stressed a business-friendly approach from the very beginning of his term in early 2008 under which the CEO-turned-politician has phased in a set of policies favoring big companies.
With less than a year of his tenure remaining, the business-centric ``MBnomics’’ is expected to give way to that of his successor, possibly one of the strongest candidates for the next presidency ― leading Saenuri Party campaigner Park Geun-hye.
Her economic philosophy, or ``Parknomics,’’ can be summarized as the moderate quest for a market economy, according to her aides. Parknomics has gained prominence as she spearheaded the ruling party’s unexpected victory in last week’s parliamentary elections.
``I will put the people’s livelihoods on the front burner. I will not stage any political struggles that have nothing to do with the lives of ordinary people,’’ Park said in a press conference after the elections.
She did not elaborate on the significance of this but in consideration of her stance thus far, she is expected to stick with the main principles of the Saenuri Party that has sought market-oriented policies.
Political analysts point out that such a middle-of-the-road approach can be described as a ``market economy with a human face.’’
Comparable to the compassionate capitalism voiced by some U.S. politicians, Park’s economic advisors state that Parknomics would be about helping the least well off without weighing on business.
In other words, the 60-year-old and her economic team are attempting to come up with economic initiatives aimed at achieving two seemingly conflicting goals of helping the poor without weighing on the wealthy.
Specifically, her economic brains say that more would be spent to assist the underprivileged while businesses would not have to worry about tax raises.
Along the same lines, policies concerning large conglomerates are expected to be stricter than those of the current administration but more moderate than those of the opposition parties.
With regard to regulations on the property market, they are not likely to be immediately scrapped even if Park chalks up a landslide victory in December’s presidential election.
``Topping other things off, the needy should get support and that should be the main focus of a welfare administration,’’ said an insider at Park’s campaign office.
``In order to raise funds for the policy, it would be better to improve the efficiency of the government budget or find new tax revenue rather than resorting to the easy solutions of raising taxes.’’
Among Park’s economic aides are Reps. Yoo Seung-min, Choi Kyung-hwan and Lee Han-koo of the Saenuri Party. Among lawmaker elects, professor Ahn Jon-beom of Sungkyunkwan University and professor Kang Seok-hoon of Sungshin Women’s University are economic experts close to Park.
``Parknomics would be placed somewhere between MBnomics and the initiatives of opposition parties, which attempted to regulate conglomerates and fully expand welfare policies,’’ Shinhan Investment Corp. economist Lee Sun-yup said.
``However, Park’s team has yet to come up with a unique economic approach and attitude toward conglomerates. We need more clues in order to fully figure our Parknomics.’’
Observers expect that her economic strategy will take shape in detail as the Saenuri Party tries to carry out pledges made in the National Assembly elections under the stewardship of Park, daughter of the late former President Park Chung-hee.
Through almost two decades in power in the 1960s and 1970s, the general-turned-president’s legacy caused great controversy _ some label him as a pioneer in laying the groundwork for Korea Inc. while others criticize him as a dictator responsible for the close, sometimes inappropriate, relationship between politics and business.
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