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| Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon, right, shakes hands with Jang Ha-sung, presidential chief of staff for policy, ahead of their undisclosed meeting at the Financial Supervisory Service's training center in Seoul, Aug. 29. Courtesy of the Ministry of Economy and Finance |
By Park Hyong-ki
Over the last couple of weeks, the public has been seeing policymakers, lawmakers, businesspeople and workers ripping each other apart over two very distinctive economic ideas spearheaded by Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon and Jang Ha-sung, President Moon Jae-in's chief of staff for policy.
The drama has been unfolding with the conflict escalating over the two's policies with Jang pushing forward with a policy to increase workers' incomes, and Kim believing the private sector should lead innovation and job creation.
Conservative lawmakers and businesses are apparently siding with Kim, calling for Jang to step down. Workers are seemingly behind Jang with the President covering his back.
The plot involving the two, nicknamed Kim & Jang, resembling the name of the country's largest law firm Kim & Chang, has thickened, gaining public attention like watching a boxing match and betting who will win in the last round.
It has become interesting especially after the country unveiled its most shocking number of jobs created in July ― 5,000 ― and the worst income gap between the rich and poor.
Let's not kid ourselves.
The press has been enjoying this, reporting about this fight a lot more than the Asian Games. Some have been portraying Jang as the villain and Kim as the powerless hero, with a series of weak economic data pointing to the failure of Moon's income-led growth policy.
When looking beyond the numbers, political colors and social division, both Kim and Jang are right to be stubborn with their own economic ideas and philosophy.
If anyone read Jang's book about Korea's capitalism, his core idea is Korea should shift the power to small- and medium-sized enterprises and their workers. This means less power to chaebol as the country needs a paradigm shift amid the failure of trickle-down economics.
Kim is also right about his idea for private sector innovation because, if history has taught the global economy anything, businesses have been in the forefront in reshaping markets and creating jobs while policies helped "nudge" them.
Should the public just sit back and enjoy seeing the two go their separate ways while President Moon keeps himself too busy patching things up with North Korea?
Despite increasing exports, the economy is in poor shape. The country may have its high-tech semiconductors and high-rise buildings and fancy infrastructure. But looks can be deceiving.
The two are very intelligent, and they should be smart enough to bury whatever hatchet they may have and work together by using each other's intelligence and understanding their weaknesses.
As Sting and Eric Clapton ― two different genre musicians ― would sing: "If there's one guy who'd lay down his life for you, it's hard to say it. I hate to say it. It's probably me."
Kim and Jang would probably hate and find it hard to say it, but they need each other to complete their task that has a common goal ― helping make people's lives better in difficult times.
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