Minister Kim: “Reduce private education expenses to stabilize living expenses”

Finance Minister Kim Jin-pyo revealed on Sunday that “We are planning to announce a roadmap for educational reform in the first quarter this year which would enable public education to absorb private education.”

Minister Kim appeared on “Sunday Diagnosis,” a current affairs program of KBS1 and said, “Workers’ living expenses such as housing and education need to be stabilized in order to reduce demand for wage increases.” He added, “We are planning to deliver a final resolution to normalize public education after thorough consultations with the Department of Education and Human Resources.”

He also added, “We are planning for an expansion policy in the first half of the year while maintaining a low interest rate in order to resolve problems such as discouraged investments, labor conflicts, and credit card delinquencies.”

However, Minister Kim said that implementation of policies for directly increasing consumption in order to increase domestic demand are not considered because of the negative side effects such as unstable households or skyrocketing prices in real estate.

In relation to increasing jobs, he said, “The number of jobs increases by 60,000 for a one percent increase in the growth rate. But since the increase would be smaller when growth centers on manufacturing, heavy machinery and chemicals, it would be necessary to boost service areas and small to medium-sized venture companies.”

Minister Kim also said, “Since Kookmin, Lotte, Korea Exchange and Woori cards have solved their problems by merging with other companies, the government should try to restore the card companies’ trust in the market by pursuing stricter measures for organizational reform and limiting reckless competition.”

Jin-Hup Song jinhup@donga.com