Former Finance Commissioner Kim Seok-dong is interviewing at the Jipyeong Humanities and Social Research Institute in Chungjeong-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul on the 23rd. Reporter Kim Sang-sun
Former Finance Committee Chairman Kim Seok-dong (CEO of Jipyeong Humanities and Social Sciences Research Institute) published a book’Gourmet Restaurant’ last winter, when the spread of Corona 19 was in full swing. “I hope this book will give you a sense of speed, too,” and introduced 165 restaurants in Seoul. All of them have decades of business history, and the prices of Korean dishes such as naengmyeon, kongguksu, kimchi stew, and sundae soup are around 10,000 won.
What is the reason why he, who has been an economic bureaucrat for more than 30 years, published a peaceful book entitled “The Happiness of One Meal” amid the epidemic crisis? On the 23rd, we met CEO Kim at the Seodaemun-gu office in Seoul to hear the story.
Kim Seok-dong, former chairman of the Financial Services Commission, made a speech
“Monetary, foreign exchange, and fiscal policies all do not work.
The economy needs to be freed from regulations
When intellectuals speak out for the future”
- It’s not just gourmet food, and I want to eat something delicious rather than’stuffing’ even if I eat one meal. I prefer a la carte rather than a complicated course meal. Gourmet needs only two things: good ingredients and sincerity. Restaurants that have been visited by many people over the years can be seen at restaurants. The restaurants in the book have been around for 50 years since I was a student. I took all the pictures myself.
Representative Kim’s number one food is Pyongyang cold noodles. This is the influence I often tasted when I was a child due to the influence of my mother, whose hometown is Wonsan, Hamgyeongnam-do. Each store has many memories. Jongno Haejangguk’s house in Seoul,’Cheong Jin-ok’ is a restaurant where I went up to take the entrance exam at Gyeonggi High School on a day when it snowed in Seoul when I was a middle school student, and before taking the exam.
At the’Train House’ near Jonggak Station, a farewell party was held when he left the position of chairman of the Financial Services Commission in 2013. “Twenty director-level executives at first sat in a cramped room and sat down and groaned, but after eating a bite of bean paste rice cakes in pork oil, their facial expressions became bright.” It is the memory of CEO Kim.
“The Happiness of One Meal” is a compilation of life’s restaurants, former chairman Kim Seok-dong. The 2016 edition (left) was published to introduce “good restaurants to buy as much as you like” to juniors in public office after the Kim Young-ran Act was enforced, and this was newly reinforced in November 2020.
- Restaurants are very difficult these days.
- That’s the big reason I published this book. Korea is a relatively stingy country for eating out. Although it has changed a lot these days, it is a system for housewives to cook at home for a long time compared to China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. However, as digital-based industries develop in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, self-employment such as restaurants becomes a really important industry.
- Why is self-employment important in the digital industry?
- In the future, a small number of companies, such as IT and giant platforms, are bound to have a lot of productivity and profits. The only places to absorb and generate employment are self-employment and service industries. As the industry essentially changes and the economy develops, the employment problem will become very serious. Having jobs and not having jobs is more important than income variation.
- ‘Zipcock’ is the trend because of the corona.
- What do self-employed people eat when they all hide? It is better to go to restaurants while keeping the quarantine standards well. There are countless restaurants in the neighborhood as well as the places in the book. It is to create a new culture of life that you can enjoy while searching for such a place. Could a clue to solving the employment problem be found in such a place?
On August 13, 2007, as concerns over the US subprime mortgage loan spread, Kim Seok-dong, then first vice minister of the Ministry of Finance and Economy (second from left), is presiding over the Financial Policy Council to discuss countermeasures at the Bank Hall in Myeong-dong, Seoul. Reporter Seung-Hyun Kim
When he was a bureaucrat, CEO Kim was nicknamed’Chief of Countermeasures’. Over the past 30 years, he is an economic expert who has led the big issues such as the real-name financial system, the foreign exchange crisis, the card crisis, and the bankruptcy of savings banks. However, after resigning from public office, he has avoided public comments on the economy and has devoted himself to areas of interest such as food, photography, and research on ancient Korean history. But on this day, he said, “It’s different this time. It will be really difficult.”
- Do you think the economy is serious?
- During the 1997 financial crisis, Korea was a crisis, but the world was booming. On the contrary, during the 2008 financial crisis, the world was difficult, such as the US and Europe, but the Korean economy went well. But now the world is bad and Korea is bad. Since the 1980s, the world has been growing with liquidity while maintaining low interest rates. As a result, households, businesses, and government are all in debt. The gunpowder of overdebt (excess liquidity) is circulating in the US-China trade war, de-globalization, European risks, China’s bad debts and real estate bubbles. You have to go through this.
- How many policies do you think the government can use during the economic crisis? There are only three monetary policies that adjust interest rates, foreign exchange policies that adjust exchange rates, and fiscal policies that support money. But now the interest rate is 0%, the exchange rate is a situation in which countries are comparing each other as triggers, and the finances are all poured into debt. There is nothing you can do. Deregulation is what you use when these three things don’t work.
Former Finance Commissioner Kim Seok-dong holds an interview with JoongAng Ilbo at the Jipyeong Humanities and Social Research Institute in Chungjeong-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul on the 23rd. Reporter Kim Sang-sun
One of the things that CEO Kim emphasizes is’Korean DNA’. It is argued that when hardships and adversities arise, the Korean people must overcome the crisis by exerting their pioneering spirit, collective will, and spirit of competition. He actually traveled 50,000 km 50 times over 10 years from the Mongolian Highlands to the Central Asia and the Great Plains of Europe and published a book entitled “Searching for the DNA of Kim Seok-dong”.
- How will deregulation save the economy?
- The survival instinct of Koreans, who do anything to avoid dying when a crisis strikes, is a tremendous competitive advantage, and this comes out when you release it so that you can do anything. Korea has become the world’s seventh largest exporter after having nothing in half a century. Even though they are the same people, the North Korean economy accounts for only 2.4% of our gross domestic product (GDP). It is the difference between with and without regulation.
- There is a large disagreement between conservatives and progress on regulatory issues.
- It is not a time when the Korean economy is free to follow the ideology. The only policy that can be used is deregulation. The only way to live is the revival of companies, and in order for them to live, the regulations must be released. If we compete with each other, we can regulate it, but aren’t we competing with foreign companies in the world? A country with the 10th largest economy in the world cannot survive through regulation.
- Isn’t there a problem of class gap?
- There are many problems in Korea such as low birth rate, aging population, overdebt, and class gap. But you shouldn’t be asking who’s wrong with this. Since others ran 1km at a speed of 100m, they were out of breath and side effects came out. The urgent priority is to find a solution, not just looking for a person to take responsibility for. That is deregulation. We guarantee that companies will revive immediately when they are released. Even the socially underprivileged should be protected with two means:’education’ and’social safety net’, but not trying to do anything else.
Among the regulations that have recently become issues such as the ‘3 Economy Act’ are corporate governance and decision-making structures. Regarding this, CEO Kim said, “Korea changed the corporate accounting system, the governance structure of listed companies, the outside director system, and the disclosure system after going through the IMF foreign exchange crisis and the 2001 Enron crisis. In terms of institutional view, it is the world’s best.” However, he said, “The challenge is to find a plan that enables transparent management, such as introducing a device that guarantees management rights such as differential voting rights so that the system can be effective.”
At the end of the interview, CEO Kim said a meaningful story. “Now, the intellectual class in Korean society must speak out.”
- Is there a problem with the intellectual class?
- Korea is unusual now. There is no middle or center on top of the politicians fighting from the top, and the social media (social media) fight from the bottom. It seems that the middle class has disappeared and the literacy class has disappeared. The intellectual class includes former and current public officials as well as scholars, businesswomen, business owners, and the press. Those who are silent should speak out while doing their duty, the Nobless Oblige.
- If it goes like this, Korea will be swept away by the double difficulties of the global shared economic crisis and the rapid change in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution. The reason why I study ancient history and find the roots and competitiveness of the Korean people is to find a solution to overcome the crisis in Korea in the future. It is not to take the side of either the opposition parties or Bo-hyuk. It really means that this country must develop through crises, present the direction of the country in which future generations can live with hope, and design the future. I am thinking about how to appeal this to the intellectual class.
☞ Seok-dong Kim ▶Born in Busan in 1953 ▶Gyeonggi High School, Seoul National University Department of Business Administration ▶Financial Economy Institute General Manager of Real-Name Financial Real Estate Group, Real Estate Manager, Foreign Currency Fund Manager ▶Financial Supervisory Commission Supervisory Policy 1 Director ▶Ministry of Finance and Finance Finance Policy Bureau, Financial Information Analysis Institute, Deputy Secretary ▶Finance 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy ▶CEO of Nonghyup Economic Research Institute ▶Chairman of Finance Committee ▶CEO of Jipyeong Humanities and Social Sciences Research Institute
Reporter Soah Lee [email protected]
