[Editorial] One Should Know How to Blame Oneself to Set the Policies Correctly

Chairman of the Financial Supervisory Service Lee Jung-jae said in his speech, “Doctors who heal patients when the diseases are not serious are good doctors. I humbly accept the criticism that we have not been good doctors.” This statement admits the organization’s responsibility in failing to prevent the credit card crisis in advance. It is quite refreshing to see a financial supervisory official reflect on his conduct after seeing so many government officials busily trying to avoid their responsibilities.

One out of thirteen people in Korea are in debt insolvency. The cumulative deficit of specialty credit card companies has exceeded four trillion won as of September this year. This has shrunk the consumers’ psychology and has endangered the financial market, yet still no one in the government is willing to admit his or her responsibility. High officials who were responsible for the credit card policies in the Kim Dae-jung’s government are all busy putting the blame on others, especially to other departments and to card companies.

If there is a financial problem within a country, the people are the ones who are the most vulnerable. Also, the deficiencies of some financial organizations can easily cause an entire national economic crisis. The reason that the government and the financial authorities hold considerable rights of strong prior regulation and strict supervision of the economy derives from this fact. Therefore, deficiencies of a specific financial organization can be partly attributed to the government and the financial authorities. Especially, if the crisis is so serious that it brings a threat to the whole system, it is no one else but the government and the financial authorities who are the most responsible.

The reason to put blame on the policy failure is not to find a “scapegoat.” If the responsibility is not clarified, the analysis done to find the accurate causes will not be correct; if the analysis is wrongly directed, it will be difficult to come up with an appropriate solution. As a result, the tendency of the policy tendency to be “hot or cold” will be widespread, and only the people will be hurt.

This theory is not only limited to credit card policies. Even when there are cries that the economy is worse now than during the previous economic crisis in 1997, the claims of avoiding the responsibilities are everywhere saying, “It is because of the previous regime’s wrongdoings,” “other departments have interfered with this,” “the outside environment was inconvenient,” and other things. Good policies do not only exist in advanced countries or in the books. The government has to realize that the answers are hiding in the humble reflection of their failed policies.