Economic czars of pres. candidates

Moon Jae-in, the presidential candidate of the main opposition Democratic United Party, has appointed Lee Joung-woo, an economics professor at Kyungpook National University, to head the economic reform committee of Moon`s election camp. With the latest appointment, three renowned economists –- Kim Chong-in, Jang Ha-sung and Lee –- are leading the “economic democratization” drives by presidential contenders Park Geun-hye, Moon and Ahn Cheol-soo, respectively. Though all of the economic strategists are talking of economic democratization, they have widely different experiences and economic and philosophical backgrounds.

Kim Chong-in, the head of the ruling Saenuri Party’s reform committee, was a professor at Sogang University in the fourth round of the five-year development plan in the 1970s under the Park Chung-hee administration. He is a member of the "Sogang School,” which led Korea’s rapid economic growth. When the Constitution was written in 1987, he included a clause on economic democratization as a lawmaker of the then ruling Democratic Justice Party. Certain critics say the clause was not substantially different from a previous clause on the economy, but the new clause clearly showed a different perception of the economy. This is because the new Constitution used the term “economic democratization” for the first time and included new concepts such as balanced growth, wealth distribution, prevention of market domination and abuse of economic power.

Lee Joung-woo is called one of former President Roh Moo-hyun’s men, as he served as a chief policymaker for the president. Lee, however, clearly differentiated himself from Roh on certain issues. When the Roh administration sought a free trade agreement with the U.S. in 2006, Lee played a leading role in announcing a statement by economic scholars urging a stop to the trade negotiations though he was Roh’s special adviser for economic affairs. Specializing in income distribution, he is one of Korea’s most prominent progressive economists who considers wealth distribution more important than economic growth. Lee was also a member of a study group on the theories of Henry George, a 19th-century American economist who championed economic justice.

Jang Ha-sung, an economic aide to Ahn Cheol-soo, earned a nickname “angel of death” for Korea’s large family-controlled conglomerates, after making Samsung Electronics’ general shareholders meeting last for 13 hours while criticizing the Samsung chairman’s arbitrary management and questionable wealth inheritance. Jang, however, has made significant contributions to enhancing management transparency at Korea’s conglomerates. His economic philosophy is to be faithful to shareholder ownership, the basic principle of capitalism.

The three economists have different viewpoints, but their policies on welfare, tax hikes, household debts and university tuition are similar. The similarities result from “policy convergence” that often occur in an advanced society. Others, however, attribute them to the presidential candidates’ strategies to win votes amid growing expectations of increased welfare among the people.

Editorial Writer Heo Seung-ho (tigera@donga.com)