Hong Nam-ki, 660 Days in Office by the End of This Month... Second Longest-Serving Minister in History

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy and Finance (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, will become the second longest-serving minister in history on the 30th of this month.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the 14th, Deputy Prime Minister Hong, who officially took office on December 11, 2018, will mark 660 days in office on the 30th of this month.

This surpasses the tenure of Park Jae-wan, Minister of Economy and Finance during the Lee Myung-bak administration, who served for 660 days.

The longest-serving Minister of Economy and Finance in history was Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun during the Lee Myung-bak administration, who served for 842 days.

Except for these two, most Ministers of Economy and Finance have not exceeded a term of one year and six months.

Deputy Prime Minister Hong formulated four supplementary budgets (supplementary appropriations) this year alone in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He prepared three supplementary budgets totaling 277 trillion won in the first half of the year, and last week submitted the fourth supplementary budget to the National Assembly. Having four supplementary budgets in one year is the first time in 59 years.

However, as supplementary budgets were repeatedly passed, national debt increased, and based on the fourth supplementary budget, the national debt-to-GDP ratio soared to a record high of 43.9%, while the deficit ratio of the managed fiscal balance to GDP rose to 6.1%, marking the worst fiscal soundness indicators in history.

He also led the announcement of a series of high-intensity real estate measures to curb housing prices in the Seoul metropolitan area. Recently, Deputy Prime Minister Hong has chaired the weekly 'Real Estate Market Inspection Ministerial Meeting,' coordinating differences among related ministries on major policy issues such as housing supply measures in the metropolitan area and the establishment of a real estate supervisory body.

In addition, he chairs the 'Emergency Economic Central Countermeasures Headquarters Meeting' every week to discuss and announce COVID-19 countermeasures, keeping his weekly schedule fully packed.

Recently, Deputy Prime Minister Hong has also formed a 'honeymoon relationship' with the ruling party and the Blue House. Although there was controversy over his position due to disagreements on the scale of supplementary budgets during the tenure of former Democratic Party leader Lee Hae-chan, there are talks in government circles that Deputy Prime Minister Hong will gain more power with the launch of the Democratic Party under leader Lee Nak-yeon.

Deputy Prime Minister Hong is known to have earned strong trust while working closely as the Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination during Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon's administration.

Moreover, President Moon Jae-in has publicly expressed trust in Deputy Prime Minister Hong several times, empowering him. In mid-last month, during a briefing on next year's budget and the New Deal Fund, President Moon said, "Among the 37 OECD countries, South Korea's growth rate is projected to be the highest, showing that the Deputy Prime Minister is performing well as the economic commander-in-chief." President Moon's remarks led to speculation that the current economic team will remain in place for some time.

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