Minister Jin must use teamwork

New Minister of Finance and Economy Jin Nyum has realized his lifetime wish.

Since he joined the Economic Planning Board, now the Ministry of Finance and Economy, his dream was to become deputy prime minister for economic affairs. Once the revision of law on government organization passes the National Assembly, he will become deputy prime minister and minister of finance and economy.

Many point out that the new economic team, led by Minister Jin, is required to place emphasis on teamwork. There have been many occasions when each government ministry announced its own policy without enough prior consultation with other relevant ministries, triggering chaotic market situations. Economic ministers often quarrel at cabinet meetings, and they sometimes fail to discuss economic issues.

Minister Jin might say that it is different from reality, but Jin partially is responsible for the lack of teamwork under by then-Minister Lee Hun-Jae. Economic ministries sometimes produced a discord on issues such as formation of public funding or questions of additional budget between the Finance-Economy Ministry and the Office of Planning and Budget.

Also, rumors spread that Minister JIn has maintained questionable relations with Minister Lee, who is Jin`s junior in state examination.

Compared with Lee`s economic team, the economic team of Minister Jin looks OK for a team player.

Jeon Yoon-Chul, minister of planning and budget, Lee Nam-Kee, Fair Trade Commission chairman, presidential chief economic secretary Lee Ki-Ho and Information-Communications Minister Ahn Byung-Yup are seniors or juniors from the Economic Planning Board, and they all are from the Honam region.

There are some points of contention, but it is unlikely that they will fight with each other for positions or in terms of policy.

Nevertheless, the new economic team`s performance depends largely on the behavior of Minister Jin, who also will serve as deputy prime minister for economics. In fact, Jin`s economic team is criticized for lacking in freshness. So if there are disputes over ministerial policies, Jin might lose his influence over the economic ministries.