Lee Chang-yong: "To Raise South Korea's Potential Growth Rate, Focus Must Be on Restructuring"

Bank of Korea Governor Candidate: "Need to Improve Productivity and Enhance Labor Market Flexibility"

Lee Chang-yong, the nominee for Governor of the Bank of Korea, is arriving at the confirmation hearing office set up in the Booyoung Taepyeong Building on Sejong-daero, Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 1st, and responding to questions from the press. Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] Lee Chang-yong, the nominee for Governor of the Bank of Korea, identified 'restructuring' as a measure to enhance South Korea's potential growth rate.

Ahead of the National Assembly confirmation hearing, Lee responded in writing on the 7th to Kim Ju-young, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, stating, "In the short term, to raise the potential growth rate, it is an urgent task to focus on restructuring so that resources allocated to marginal companies during the pandemic can be converted into new growth engines and foster new industries."

In the medium to long term, he expressed the opinion that ▲improving productivity centered on the private sector ▲enhancing labor market flexibility ▲improving the education system ▲creating an innovation ecosystem ▲and addressing income inequality and polarization are necessary.

Lee said, "We need to lower market entry barriers through regulatory reforms and improve the productivity of the private sector," adding, "It is necessary to induce efficient allocation of human capital by enhancing labor market flexibility to respond to economic structural reforms."

He also answered that the education system should be improved in a demand-oriented manner to meet new educational needs arising from changes in industrial and occupational structures.

Lee mentioned, "We must create an innovation ecosystem by providing incentives for corporate innovation and challenges and giving failed companies opportunities to recover."

He added, "Excessive income inequality and polarization can cause social and political instability, so it is necessary to alleviate them to avoid negative impacts on national economic growth and productivity improvement."

The National Assembly confirmation hearing for Lee is scheduled to be held on the 19th.

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