Moon Administration's 'Income-Led Growth' Advocates from Hakhyun School Trio All Leave Blue House

(From left) Jang Ha-sung, former Chief Policy Officer of the Blue House; Hong Jang-pyo, former Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs; Park Jong-gyu, former Director of Fiscal Planning

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] The three key aides from the so-called 'Hak-hyeon School'?Jang Ha-sung, Hong Jang-pyo, and Park Jong-gyu?who led the 'income-led growth' policy, a core economic strategy during the early Moon Jae-in administration, have all left the Blue House.

On the 20th, President Moon Jae-in made personnel changes involving five new secretaries. Park Jong-gyu, former head of the Korean Fiscal Association and fiscal planning officer who joined as a founding member of the Blue House, is reported to have left the Blue House after about two years and seven months of service and will return to the Korea Institute of Finance. His successor is Jo Young-chul, an invited professor in the Department of Economics at Korea University.

Former fiscal planning officer Park, along with former Blue House Policy Chief Jang Ha-sung (currently Ambassador to China) and former Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs Hong Jang-pyo (currently Chair of the Special Committee on Income-led Growth at the Policy Planning Committee), was recognized as a key aide who advocated the 'income-led growth theory' and designed the early economic policies. The Hak-hyeon School is an economic school emphasizing equity, stability, and distribution, mainly composed of disciples of Professor Byung-yoon Hyung, Professor Emeritus at Seoul National University and Chairman of the Seoul Social Economy Research Institute, from whose pen name (Hak-hyeon) the school’s name is derived.

The income-led growth advocated by them was one of the three pillars of the Moon administration’s economic policy (income-led growth, fair economy, and innovative growth). The basic theory is to increase household income (wages) to expand consumption, thereby achieving economic growth. However, this policy direction sparked continuous debate within the economics community, and as steep minimum wage hikes negatively impacted the real economy, it faced public criticism.

Now, as President Moon enters the fourth year of his term, having passed the halfway point, the message of income-led growth has disappeared. It was completely omitted from this year’s New Year message, and the last time income-led growth was mentioned in an official speech by President Moon was only once in the New Year address in January last year. The Moon administration currently promotes 'innovative inclusive nation' as its economic policy banner.

Meanwhile, only five aides who joined as founding members of the Blue House remain in their posts without changes: National Security Office Chief Chung Eui-yong, General Affairs Secretary Lee Jung-do, Speech Secretary Shin Dong-ho, National Archives Secretary Jo Yong-woo, and Land, Infrastructure and Transport Secretary Yoon Sung-won. Among them, Secretary Lee, known for his meticulous management of Blue House affairs, and Speech Secretary Shin, personally selected by President Moon during his time as party leader, are considered part of the 'Sunjangjo' (loyal retainers). Secretary Yoon was expected to be replaced but was reportedly excluded from this round of personnel changes due to internal personnel matters within the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. He is also mentioned as a potential candidate for the next Deputy Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.