Hong Jang-pyo, New KDI President, "Will Develop Policies Supporting Inclusive Growth"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Hong Jang-pyo, the newly appointed president of the Korea Development Institute (KDI), emphasized the discovery of policy agendas that support the value of inclusive growth as his inaugural statement. Hong is well known as the architect of the Moon Jae-in administration’s flagship economic policy, 'income-led growth.'

On the morning of the 1st, Hong held an inauguration ceremony at KDI in Sejong City and spoke about the future direction of policy research, stating, "The importance of inclusive growth, which emphasizes values such as inclusion, innovation, environment, fairness, and the virtuous cycle of growth and distribution, is being highlighted. Based on these values and the global economic outlook, we will strive to discover policy agendas that support the nation’s mid- to long-term policies."

Along with this, he presented a blueprint for pragmatic policy research that proactively responds to current issues. He said, "To resolve the temporal mismatch between policy demanders and policy research providers, we must aim for pragmatic research grounded in reality while maximizing its value through proactive research execution. For research to have significance beyond merely proposing ideas and to impact policy implementation, a prior understanding of real policy issues is paramount." He added, "We will provide opportunities for researchers to continuously acquire new knowledge and support them in various ways to pursue pragmatic research with high policy applicability."

He also set forth the task of boosting the pride of KDI members and strengthening its status as a policy research hub. He stated, "We will actively strive to attract outstanding researchers and contribute to improving members’ work efficiency through fair and transparent performance evaluations and the establishment of a reward system for excellent achievements. Since the pride of members in KDI is a crucial force sustaining the institution, we will listen attentively even to the smallest voices of our staff."

Hong further emphasized, "As the COVID-19 crisis continues, research that can improve urgent social issues such as job creation, social polarization, low birthrate, and aging population, as well as quality of life, is urgently needed. Especially, these tasks are key policy issues requiring collaboration among multiple ministries, and smooth policy cooperation necessitates research collaboration among national research institutes." He added, "KDI will focus its research capabilities on core policy tasks and enhance its status as a comprehensive research institute for policy research hubs and convergence research by expanding exchanges and cooperation with domestic and international research institutions."

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