With the presidential transition committee’s announcement of a government reorganization plan on Tuesday, names of possible candidates for top economic policymakers are being circulated among financial circles.
They include three key ministerial posts: deputy prime minister in charge of overall economic policies, who will concurrently serve as finance minister; chairman of the Financial Services Commission; and governor of the Financial Supervisory Service.
Among the leading candidates for the incoming administration’s first deputy prime minister are three economic affairs advisers to President-elect Park Geun-hye: Kim Kwang-doo, Kim Chong-in and Lee Hahn-koo.
For the post of FSC chairman, the nation’s chief financial regulator, senior public officials such as Kim Yong-hwan and Kwon Hyouk-se are being mentioned.
Kim Kwang-doo, 65, an honorary professor at Sogang University, is one of Park’s closest economic advisers. He created the “Institute for the Future of Korea” in 2011 and played a significant role in the creation of Park’s major economic campaign pledges.
His core economic philosophy is growth-driven economic vitality. To achieve this goal, Kim developed a set of guidelines for Park’s economic pledges including tax cuts, eased regulations and fair market order.
Kim Chong-in, 72, chaired Park’s campaign committee on promoting people’s happiness. Like the president-elect, he is also an alumnus of Sogang University and led its second generation of followers. Kim Kwang-doo is the third-generation leader of the group.
In contrast to Kim Kwang-doo, Kim Chong-in, who is known as a liberal economist, developed a relationship with Park only recently. He joined the camp after repeated invitations by Park last November.
Action plans for economic democratization from Kim Chong-in included such drastic measures as a ban on both existing and new cross-shareholdings of family-owned conglomerates among their subsidiaries.
Economic analyst-turned-lawmaker Lee Hahn-koo is another preferred candidate for the deputy prime minister.
Lee and Kim Kwang-doo were key economic affairs tutors of Park. For the “National Future Research Institute,” initiated by Park in 2010, 78 scholars, former bureaucrats, politicians and businesspeople took part as founding members of the brain trust.
Kim Yong-hwan, chairman and president of Export-Import Bank of Korea, is one of the strongest contenders to become the next FSC chairman.
Kim, who was born in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, could be the appropriate figure if Park’s personnel policy team seeks a neutral candidate from the region between the politically polarized Gyeongsang Province and Jeolla provinces.
The 60-year-old figure has continued to serve as a public servant at the Finance Ministry, the FSC and the FSS, the executive arm of the FSC.
FSS Gov. Kwon Hyouk-se, who was born in Daegu in 1956, could also be recommended as the next FSC chairman, according to market insiders.
By Kim Yon-se (
kys@heraldcorp.com)
