(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Oct. 29)

Lee-Man brothers
Chief executive should replace economic team, policy

President Lee Myung-bak's speech on state affairs at the National Assembly Monday
received ice-cold responses from opposition lawmakers ??? and markets. The Korean
version of the State of the Union address in America, delivered directly by the
chief executive for the first time in five years, was full of confidence and
determination as well as calls for national unity and cooperation to tide over
the global financial crisis.
Brazenly missing in the 26-minute speech was the admission of and reflection on
??? let alone an apology for ??? any governmental blunders. To sum up what
President Lee has said about the ongoing economic crisis, including the
parliamentary address, all this is due to external factors, while his
administration has performed most effectively to keep the crisis from aggravating
further, and so the nation has only to unite behind the government to get over
this turmoil, etc, etc.
Even many officials at the governing Grand National Party are not agreeing with
this view. They think Lee's perception of the current state of things is
dangerously simple and optimistic, and the President's near blind confidence in
his top economic policymaker, Finance Minister Kang Man-soo, could make the
situation even worse.
Minister Kang of course has not brought about all this financial chaos at home,
but it was his fickle foreign exchange policy in the initial stage that caused
markets' loss of confidence in Seoul's ability to cope with the global financial
shock. Away from the administration and markets for more than a decade, Kang is
regarded among private financiers as an ``old boy," in reference to his
out-of-touch way of thinking and acting. So much so the widespread joke on
``Lee-Man Brothers," coined from the President's second name and his finance
minister's first comparing them to ill-fated investment bank, Lehman, has been on
the lips of even foreign journalists.
Yes, the crisis is global but many Koreans do not understand why this country has
come to bear its brunt, particularly despite sound fundamentals if the officials
are right. One reason is Korea is a small, open economy, directly exposed to any
overseas turbulence. This is no fault of the incumbent government but should be
traced back to the former Kim Young-sam administration, which hastily opened up
the nation's economy and relaxed regulatory systems, leading to the first crisis
of a decade ago, when Minister Kang was vice finance minister.
Even so, the present government's task is to plug the regulatory loopholes and
devise safety valves to block ill effects of excessive liberalization. But the
government is pushing ahead with liberalization-free market principles, which
have been tested sufficiently abroad and come to lose validity. It is this
stubbornness and ignorance that have led foreign media to think of Korea as the
next target of speculators after Iceland.
The reason Lee cannot replace his finance minister is it could mean the whole
restructuring of the "MB-nomics." As the President stressed, however, the most
urgent thing now is to put out the fire and relieve market players at home and
abroad, with bold actions, such as the reshuffle of a few key posts, including
the finance portfolio.
Officials cite the old saying of "never swap horses while crossing the stream."
When the horse leads the horseman into deeper and more dangerous spots, the risk
of swapping it would be worth taking.
If a confirmation hearing in parliament is a problem, the President can always
pick up Kang's replacement in consultation with the opposition. An unusual
situation requires unusual steps.
(END)