The economic policies for 2014 will focus on elevating GDP growth and creating more jobs, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok told heads of private think tanks on Monday.

“We seek to have every economic bracket explicitly benefit from vitalizing the economy,” Hyun said during a breakfast meeting with the research institute officials.

The keywords for the economic framework in 2014 are economic recovery, job creation, stable livelihood and economic fundamentals, he added.

The meeting was hosted by the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Science, with 23 state institutional heads who gathered to discuss the economic outlook and policy framework for 2014.

Established in 2005, the NRCE supports government-funded research institutes in economic and social science fields.

Hyun stressed that the positive effect from this year’s supplementary budget and other growth boosters must be passed down all the way to ordinary citizens.

This will require strict risk management for domestic and overseas factors, and making preemptive reforms, he added.

Hyun recalled that in the previous meeting in June, the panel reached a similar conclusion, implicating coherency in the government’s economic drive.

“In June, we have had the chance to discuss the risks that the Korean economy is confronted with, as well as risks and policy agendas at home and overseas,” Hyun told the researchers.

“We concluded that the state agendas for the second half of 2013 must be aimed at breaking off the long-stalled low-growth mechanism and making the economic recovery visible on the civil level.”

The deputy prime minister also emphasized that the country’s economy has successfully survived the economic slowdown.

“The coal must be kept on the fire until we finally reach advanced economic status,” Hyun said.

The deputy prime minister’s address came on the same day that the chairman of the Financial Services Commission, the country’s highest financial decision-maker, urged the global expansion of financial industries on a separate panel.

FSC chairman Shin Je-yoon told state and civil financial experts that there have been plentiful opportunities for Korea’s financial industries, with the advent of the aging society.

“Venture capitals, pension firms, asset managers and technology evaluators are expected to play a big role in developing the Korean financial industry,” Shin said.

More concrete visions for the financial industries will be announced on Wednesday, he added. 


By Chung Joo-won
(joowonc@heraldcorp.com)