South Korea's Park Hong-geun Proposes Proactive, Growth-Focused Fiscal Policy
Seoul hosted a policy roundtable on the 12th where Park Hong-geun, the nominee for the Ministry of Planning and Budget, spoke with scholars from academia, research institutes, and civil society about Korea’s fiscal path. The event aimed to assess current fiscal conditions and gather policy recommendations from experts.
Park said the core task is to establish a sustainable framework for proactive, or active, fiscal policy, and to pursue strong expenditure restructuring to eliminate wasteful or nonessential spending. He stressed that fiscal policy must be deliberate and disciplined to support long-term goals rather than merely reacting to short-term conditions.
The ministerial candidate described Korea’s current crisis as structural rather than purely cyclical. He cited low growth, an aging population, climate risks, regional decline, rising inequality and polarization, and public discord as intertwined challenges that require focused policy capacity and coordinated action.
He argued that Korea needs a new, forward-looking national development strategy. With the economy entering a phase of “hyper-innovation,” he said the fiscal role should extend beyond backing growth to actively driving it and enabling transformative change across sectors.
Park also underscored the goal of delivering a “warm and capable” fiscal policy that reaches people in their daily lives. He suggested that fiscal decisions should reflect both efficiency and empathy, aligning budget choices with lived realities and social needs.
The roundtable drew six budget experts from universities and think tanks, including Yi Yong-woo of the Economic Plus Institute, Kim Ki-sik, director of the Assembly’s Future Institute, Jeong Chang-su of the Nara Living Research Institute, Kim Chun-sun of Soonchunhyang University, Choi Ji-min of the Korea Local Government Institute, and Woo Seok-jin of Myongji University.
Experts at the meeting agreed on reducing policy uncertainty by strengthening predictability and efficiency through proactive fiscal policy. They called for a practical consolidation of the budget, and for measures that would stabilize planning and execution across agencies.
A key recommendation was to firmly establish a top-down budgeting system that supports alignment with future national strategies while improving transparency and outcomes. They also argued for a governance approach in which central and local governments share autonomy and responsibility within a framework of balanced growth, echoing concepts like “Five-Core Growth and Three Specialties.”
For audiences outside Korea, the discussion signals how Seoul intends to shape fiscal policy to sustain growth, invest in research and climate readiness, and stabilize markets. As Korea is a leading global producer of semiconductors, consumer electronics, and electric-vehicle technologies, these budget priorities could influence international supply chains, investment, and collaboration with allies such as the United States.
In the United States, policymakers and markets will be watching how Korea translates the promise of a “warm and capable” budget into concrete spending plans, government efficiency, and cross-border economic cooperation. The outcome could affect bilateral technology partnerships, defense-sharing arrangements, and risk management in global supply chains.