Latest news with #CorporationKorea
Forbes
30-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Elon Musk's DOGE Gimmicks Have No Place In South Korea
Pedestrians cross a road in Seoul, South Korea. SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg New South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has chosen a finance minister who wants to run Asia's fourth-largest economy like a business. Finance minister nominee Koo Yun-cheol vows to manage the national economy with a keen focus on returns on investment and making public spending more productive. As Koo explains it, 'South Korea must pursue real growth, and that requires a fundamental overhaul. We must run the economy like 'Corporation Korea,' where the people are our shareholders.' As I read these words, I can't help but think of what Elon Musk tried, and failed at spectacularly, in the U.S., with his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, ruse as part of the Donald Trump 2.0 presidency. To be sure, Koo seems like a sharp and worthy candidate to run the Ministry of Finance. Before his current stint as an economics professor at Seoul National University, Koo was a seasoned Finance Ministry bureaucrat. And one hardly expects Koo to, if confirmed, show up at work, Musk-style, in black T-shirts, baseball caps and chainsaws gleefully firing workers and chopping government agencies. Yet Koo's opening foray as Korea's top economic official leaves much to be desired. Clearly, this idea that a democratic nation should be run like a business has been proven wildly wrong at almost every turn. Trump's first and now his second presidency is proof enough of the danger of corporatizing government. Didn't Thailand try this with billionaire-turned-prime-minister Thaksin Shinawatra from 2001 to 2006? Didn't Italy also learn this lesson the hard way with Silvio Berlusconi? What about Korea in 2008, when voters turned to Lee Myung-bak, former CEO of Hyundai Group's engineering and construction units, to make the economy more dynamic? A decade ago, Australians turned to Malcolm Turnbull, a Goldman Sachs bigwig-turned-national leader. After 244 days in office, the Australian newspaper ran a critique that spoke for millions of voters unhappy with his leadership, headlined: 'Malcolm Turnbull is Australia's Prime Minister, Not CEO.' Years before that, the U.S. got a glimpse at an MBA presidency during the George W. Bush years. The Bush administration was loaded with former chieftains, including Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. Between the disastrous Iraq invasion and the subprime crisis, it's an era all too many Americans try to forget. Enter President Lee Jae Myung's new government in Seoul. Team Lee is known to favor more expansionary fiscal policy. And to the table, Koo claims to bring a strong focus on artificial intelligence. In April, he was quoted as saying that 'Korea's golden time lies in the next five years — our future depends on AI.' Yet it also depends on Koo pretty quickly realizing that Korea doesn't need to be run like a company. It needs to rein in the corporate giants that run the place. It's the dominance of a handful of corporate giants that shackles the stock market with the dreaded 'Korea discount.' Lee, to his credit, has indeed talked about reining in the family-owned conglomerates, or chaebols, that long towered over the nation. His talk of championing small-and-medium-size companies and shareholders has alarm bells ringing in the corporate suites of Samsung, Hyundai, LG, SK, Lotte and other Goliaths. Korea, after all, isn't called 'Samsung Nation' for nothing. Yet pretty much every Korean president of the last 25 years took off pledging chaebol reform. But each, to varying degrees, realized the magnitude of the task and opted to work with the chaebol to hasten economic growth — or just tolerate the status quo. Will Lee be a different kind of Korea Inc. leader? Let's hope so. But his chosen finance minister misdiagnosing the challenge so early isn't promising, as these things go.
Korea Herald
29-06-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Korea's economy will run like a business for growth: finance minister nominee
Koo Yoon-cheol pushes productivity, real growth to boost public livelihoods South Korea's finance minister nominee, Koo Yoon-cheol, vowed Sunday to manage the national economy with the rigor of a private company, focusing on return on investment and making government spending more productive. 'South Korea must pursue real growth, and that requires a fundamental overhaul,' Koo said during a press briefing shortly after his nomination was announced. 'We must run the economy like 'Corporation Korea,' where the people are our shareholders.' Koo, tapped as the first finance minister under President Lee Jae Myung, will be responsible for steering the new administration's economic policy. His comments aligned closely with Lee's top priority of improving public livelihoods, a message the president has underscored since taking office. 'I feel a deep sense of responsibility in being nominated at a time when the Korean economy faces serious challenges,' Koo said. 'But responsibility alone isn't enough — we must act. The most urgent task is stabilizing prices and easing the burden on ordinary citizens.' Koo also pledged to revitalize regional economies outside the capital area and address seasonal safety concerns as Korea approaches the peak of summer. Externally, he pointed to rising risks from US tariff negotiations, the war in Ukraine, and tensions in the Middle East. 'I will respond actively and step by step to the challenges confronting our economy,' he said. A veteran of budget policy, Koo likened managing the national economy to running a business — where every investment must be justified by returns. 'It all begins with cost-benefit thinking,' he said. 'A company that makes bad investments eventually fails. The same applies to a country. Korea must ensure that every unit of spending delivers value — whether by cutting costs, raising revenue, or finding new engines of growth.' Koo reaffirmed the Lee administration's expansionary fiscal stance, but with a focus on measurable outcomes. 'We must approach fiscal policy from a performance-based perspective," he said. "If more spending leads to growth, we spend more. If it doesn't, we cut back. In the short term, we operate flexibly. But in the long term, what matters is spending productively — even if that means spending more — to ensure sustainable growth.' He also stressed the need for systemic reform and future-oriented investments. 'We'll invest strategically in emerging industries like AI to build new growth engines, ensuring all citizens share in the opportunities and rewards of economic expansion and creating a virtuous circle between national progress and public well-being," said Koo. A visiting professor of economics at Seoul National University, the minister nominee has long argued that AI is Korea's next great economic engine. In April, he reportedly said, 'Korea's golden time lies in the next five years — our future depends on AI.' The seasoned bureaucrat returns to the Finance Ministry after five years, having last served as second vice finance minister under President Moon Jae-in, overseeing budget and fiscal policy until May 2020. He previously held several high-level posts at the ministry, including director general for budget planning and for social spending, and was widely regarded as the architect of Moon's 'people-centered economy.' He also held senior positions in the presidential office under President Roh Moo-hyun, including director of government affairs and secretary for personnel. From May 2020 to June 2022, he led the office for government policy coordination. In announcing his nomination, the presidential office described Koo as 'someone who has long explored how to drive innovation in Korea,' and 'ideally positioned to chart a path for national growth, backed by deep expertise in finance and policy.' Koo steps into the role with considerable responsibility, following a nearly two-month vacancy after the sudden resignation of former finance minister Choi Sang-mok. Although the finance minister typically also serves as deputy prime minister for the economy, the presidential office did not clarify whether Koo would take on that role — fueling speculation of a broader structural shake-up. President Lee has previously proposed splitting the Finance Ministry into two branches, one for budgeting and another for fiscal policy, to curb its influence and bring budgetary oversight closer to the presidential office. He will be formally appointed following a parliamentary confirmation hearing. Once confirmed, Koo will immediately face a packed agenda — setting the new administration's economic direction, preparing next year's budget, and responding to trade risks and domestic headwinds. 'Having risen from one of the world's poorest countries to the brink of developed-nation status, Korea has already experienced what it means to lead globally — and I believe we can do it again, and must,' Koo said. 'The country must achieve real growth to ensure people's happiness. I will devote myself to making that happen — and to making sure the benefits of that growth return to the people and improve their lives.'
