Ahn Cheol-soo: "Current administration insists only on a hammer, ruining governance... Must learn from this as a negative example"

"First Examine the Core Issue to Find the Golden Ratio of Regulation and Promotion Policies"
"I Believe the Moon-Yoon Meeting Will Be a Momentum for Smooth Handover"

Ahn Cheol-soo, Chairman of the Presidential Transition Committee, is speaking at the plenary meeting held on the 28th in the transition committee meeting room in Samcheong-dong, Seoul. Photo by Transition Committee Press Corps

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Jung-wan] Ahn Cheol-soo, chairman of the Presidential Transition Committee, said on the 29th, "You may have heard the saying that if you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail," adding, "We should not fit the problem to the tool, but fit the tool to the problem."

At the morning meeting of the secretariat held at the Transition Committee office in Tongui-dong, Seoul, Ahn stated, "We must first examine the essence of the problem, accurately identify what policy measures are necessary, and find the golden ratio to appropriately balance regulatory measures and promotion measures."

Ahn said, "I believe many policy failures of the current administration occurred because they only held a hammer," and added, "Although the government has various tools, not only the hammer of regulation but also the shovel of promotion, they insisted on using only the hammer they wanted, which I judge has damaged many aspects of state affairs."

He pointed to real estate and North Korea policies as representative policy failures, stating, "The regulation-only policy, the hammer, caused market distortions and stimulated public anxiety, leading to a surge in real estate prices."

He continued, "By using only the carrot unilaterally among carrot and stick approaches, North Korea continues to launch missiles, while our government was still talking about a declaration of the end of the war until the end of its term," and argued, "The Transition Committee should take these failures of the current administration as a lesson."

Regarding the meeting between President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol at the Blue House the previous day, he said, "I believe the meeting will give momentum to the government’s handover process and the government will cooperate well with the Transition Committee’s activities," adding, "Now, we just need to do well."

Ahn described the Transition Committee as "an early arrival team that comes to work earlier than other staff to organize the surroundings and help on-site workers start work on time," and urged, "Secretariat members should share this role concept with the members of their respective divisions."

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