hankyoreh

Professor Lee Byeong-cheon of Kangwon National University (Kim Gyoung-ho

The Moon Jae-in administration has “returned to the past in a way that will be difficult to come back from,” according to Kangwon National University emeritus professor Lee Byeong-cheon, one of the driving forces behind a recently issued ““Intellectuals’ Statement to Urge Bold Social and Economic Reforms from the Moon Jae-in Administration.”

Speaking to The Hankyoreh in a telephone interview on July 17, Lee urged the Blue House to “seriously consider why the people who supported President Moon have been moved to make a declaration one year later.”

Hankyoreh (Hani): Why did you decide to issue a statement by South Korea’s intellectuals?

Lee Byeong-cheon (Lee): We saw the changes one year into the Moon Jae-in administration as being extremely significant. Thing like chaebol reform or revisions to the real estate tax system are not being handled properly, and there has been a regression to the past. I think it’s something that will be difficult to come back from. We decided to do the statement because we concluded there was a need for a new resolution.

Hani: What sort of specific problems do you see?

Lee: The Moon administration presented a vision of income-driven growth with a “three wheel” approach of income-driven growth, innovation growth, and a fair economy. It tried to narrow things down with just the minimum wage increase, and it ended up falling into a trap. The only way to establish a new paradigm is when all three wheels are brought together in a series of packages. It can’t do that, so it’s been caught in its own trap. If we do nothing, they will just continue narrowing things down in a path-dependent way. Part of that is just that the current barriers are so thick, and part of it has to do with the different “political engineering” calculations they’re making. The conclusion I’ve reached is that the Moon Jae-in administration has succumbed to complacency.

Hani: Was there a specific development that inspired the declaration?

Lee: Hong Jang-pyo took off as Senior Secretary to the President for Economic Affairs, and in terms of real estate reforms, the plan the special financial reform committee came up with after sitting on it for so long ended up being tossed out by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. While all this was going on, President Moon Jae-in met with Samsung Electronics vice president Lee Jae-yong in India and shook hands with him. It was a single image, but I saw it as holding a lot of significance. This was at a time when they were fumbling with chaebol reforms and taking all this care not to step on toes, and [Lee’s] trial was also going on. I saw that as being a big change.

Hani: There seem to be some people advising a “wait-and-see approach.”

Lee: We’ve had a number of different views internally. I hold some affection for the Moon administration, and I want it to succeed. A lot of people saw the way things have been progressing toward peace in terms of inter-Korean issues and things like that and really wished for the administration’s success. But the social and economic reforms have been such a mess, and while there may be some disagreements, around 340 people added their signatures [to the declaration], which was more than expected.

Hani: What are your next plans?

Lee: I see the administration’s response as very important. They could say, “We’re doing a good job. Why are you tell us to do what’s good for others instead of helping us?” Or they could take it as a prod to do better. We’ll decide after seeing how they respond.

By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]