[Interview] Kim Tae-nyeon: "A Day Will Come When the Moon Jae-in Government Is Praised... A Government Prepared for a Great Transition Beyond Crisis"

"Presenting Industrial Strategies Amid Continuous Crises"
Widening Asset Gaps in Real Estate and Others Are Painful Issues
The Vision of an Innovative Inclusive Nation Must Be Inherited and Developed by the Democratic Party

Kim Tae-nyeon, member of the Democratic Party of Korea./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] "(I believe the day will come when the Moon Jae-in administration is recognized for its achievements. It was a series of crises, but when you look at how those crises were overcome, it becomes even clearer. If it had not been a crisis situation, better economic results would have been achieved. Overcoming the crisis was the top priority, yet (they did not stop there) and presented an industrial strategy suited to the era of great transformation."

Kim Tae-nyeon, Chair of the Democratic Party's Economic Crisis Response Committee, said this in an interview with Asia Economy on the 7th when asked to evaluate the Moon Jae-in administration. Chair Kim served as the Vice Chairman of the State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee at the beginning of the Moon administration and has also held positions such as floor leader.

Chair Kim said, "Every administration has its merits and demerits," but added, "From the start of the administration, there was the North Korean nuclear crisis, the US-China trade dispute, Japan's economic retaliation related to historical issues, and the COVID-19 crisis, all of which were overcome one by one under tension." He noted, "During Japan's export regulation crisis, the dependency on Japan for 100 key components was reduced from 33.5% to 24.9%." Chair Kim also stated, "While countries around the world were preoccupied with overcoming the COVID crisis immediately, the Moon administration announced the K-New Deal, a strategy on how South Korea could overcome the crisis and emerge as a leading nation in this era of great transformation," adding, "Looking at the Bidenomics announced a few months later, it seems almost like a copy of the K-New Deal."

Evaluating the five years of the Moon administration, he highlighted the rapid recovery during the COVID-19 situation, memory semiconductors, the world's first commercialization of 5G, and consecutive invitations to the G7 summit for two years, along with "a reduction in income disparity." Chair Kim acknowledged, "What is regrettable is that global liquidity expansion has increased asset disparity, which is painful," and admitted, "It is true that asset disparity has widened due to rising real estate prices."

Regarding real estate, Chair Kim expressed regret that the 2·4 Plan, which promised large-scale housing supply, was announced in the latter half of the term and that there was insufficient proactive expansion of fiscal spending. He said, "It is regrettable that the 2·4 Plan was not implemented early in the administration." On fiscal matters, he added, "If social consensus had been reached and more debt incurred, household debt and other issues might have been reduced," expressing his disappointment.

He also conveyed that the Democratic Party should inherit and develop the Moon administration's economic strategy of an innovative inclusive nation.

Chair Kim explained, "Innovative inclusive growth is in the preamble of the Democratic Party's platform. It means sharing the fruits of growth so that everyone can live well together." He said, "When the rules of a fair economy are established, all economic actors operate under these rules, which is a fair economy. Under this foundation, achieving income-led growth and innovative growth constitutes an innovative inclusive nation," adding, "As a Democratic Party value, expanding democracy, aiming for an inclusive nation, and creating a country where everyone lives well are values that can never be abandoned."

Kim Tae-nyeon, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Through the argument for inheriting and developing the economic strategy of an innovative inclusive nation, he rebutted the Moon administration responsibility theory inside and outside the party after the presidential election defeat.

Regarding the acceleration of investigations into past affairs during the current administration, he criticized it as "underestimating the people's level." Chair Kim said, "Not only economic policies but also state governance are being conducted in an old version. When crisis factors arise, they think they can overcome the crisis by investigating the previous administration and suppressing the opposition party, but this underestimates the people's level," he criticized.

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