Ahn Cheol-soo: "Find the Golden Ratio Between Regulation and Promotion Measures"

Ahn Cheol-soo, the chairman of the transition committee, is attending the 2nd secretariat meeting of the Presidential Transition Committee at the transition office in Tongui-dong, Seoul on the 29th, delivering an opening remark. Photo by Transition Committee Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporters Kim Hyemin and Geum Boryeong] Ahn Cheol-soo, Chairman of the Presidential Transition Committee, emphasized on the 29th, "The government has various means, not only regulatory measures like a hammer but also promotional measures like a shovel," adding, "We must find the golden ratio so that regulatory and promotional measures can achieve an appropriate balance."

Chairman Ahn attended a secretariat meeting held at the transition committee office in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, in the morning and said, "We should not fit the extension to the problem but fit the problem to the extension."

He pointed out that the current administration's policy tools are biased toward 'hammer,' meaning regulation. Chairman Ahn stated, "You may have heard the saying that if you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail," explaining, "It means seeing the world and problems according to the tools one has, and many policy failures of the current administration are the result of insisting only on the hammer."

As representative examples, Chairman Ahn cited real estate policy and North Korea policy. He criticized, "The hammer-like one-sided regulatory policy caused market distortion and triggered anxiety, leading to a real estate surge," and "Regarding North Korea, since only carrots were used unilaterally, North Korea kept launching missiles, yet our government kept talking about a declaration of the end of the war until the end of its term."

Chairman Ahn urged, "Learning from these failures of the current government, we must carefully examine the essence of the problem and accurately identify what policy tools are necessary," adding, "We must find the appropriate golden ratio between regulatory and promotional measures and determine what kind of extension is needed to solve the problem."

He added, "The role of the transition committee is to prepare the new government through this," and said, "In short, the transition committee is like an early shift that arrives earlier than other staff to organize the surroundings and help field workers start work on time."

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