‘Korea Must Move to Center Stage in World Economy’

“Risk management strategies are not enough. The global economy is shuddering in the face of its worst crisis since the Great Depression of 1929. The next three to four years will be crucial for Korea to find its rightful place in the new world order.”

This is the unanimous conclusion reached by foreign and domestic experts The Dong-A Ilbo recently interviewed on the reshaping of the global economic order in the wake of the financial crisis.

The experts said, “Change is inevitable in the global economic order centered on the United States since the end of World War II. In the transformation into a multi-polar system, Korea must reset its national strategies to move from the periphery to the center of world history. In addition to these simple risk-management strategies to weather the crisis, the Korean government needs more audacious plans to take advantage of the upcoming epoch-making global upheaval.”

Sohn Seong-won, an economics professor at California State University at Channel Islands, predicted a redistribution of global power. “The G7, which does not include China and other Asian countries, will become irrelevant and the role of the G20 will become stronger,” he said.

Kim Byeong-ju, a professor emeritus at Sogang University in Seoul, said, “In the era of the G20, which will soon begin, emerging markets such as Korea will have a stronger voice. Korea must be more open-minded and seek to earn the trust of the international community.”

Richard Sylla, an economics professor at New York University`s Stern School of Business, said once the financial crisis passes, U.S. influence will weaken and emerging economies such as China and India will rise in clout.

The experts also gave their proposals on how to overcome the financial crisis.

Kim Gyun, an economics professor at Korea University, said, “Economic development focused on finance is dangerous. Over the mid-to-long term, Korea must achieve continuous technological innovation, advancement of commerce, and a further opening up of the nation.”

Lim Ji-hyeon, a Western history professor at Hanyang University in Seoul, said, “We need a market economy with a humane face. An overall overhaul of ‘MB-nomics (the economic policy of President Lee Myung-bak)’ that follows Reaganomics and Thatcherism is necessary.”

Kim Jong-seok, head of the Korea Economic Research Institute, said, “Opening up the Korean economy and advancing its systems are urgently needed. Korea must become a more open society embracing multiple ethnicities, cultures and languages including free trade agreements.”

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