[Editorial] In a “Government Without a President,” the Economy and the People’s Livelihood are Key

With the impeachment bill against the President Roh passed, many people are worrying about the economy and their livelihoods. Recently, the Korean economy has been facing the hardest difficulty since the currency crisis and its structural vicious circle. It is natural that the nation and the markets respond sensitively to suspending Roh’s presidential authority in this situation.

However, if governmental and private economic subjects cope with this situation appropriately, the uneasiness of the economy will be settled and the market will be stabilized. The three world credit rating agencies, including Moodys, said that the approval of the impeachment bill would not make an impact on the country risk of Korea. Regarding the policies of Prime Minister Goh’s acting presidency, the U.S. investment firm Bear Stearns said, “Economic operations can be improved thanks to the de-politicizing of the policy-making process.”

Actually, the market sees Finance and Economy Minister Lee Hun-jae’s efforts to deal with risks with a favorable eye. Particularly, stressing the coherence of policies by emailing foreign investors had an effect in stabilizing the prices of Korean stocks and bonds in foreign markets. However, it is too early to be relieved and the government should keep alert.

Enterprises, the labor world, and the people should not be disturbed and should keep calm. Korea overcame harder times such as the oil shock in 1970’s, political uneasiness in 1980’s, and afflictions in 1990’s, and made use of them as chances to improve Korea’s economic constitution. Every economic subject should gather the effort to show that the Korean economy has grown enough to overcome difficulties without being shaken by a political problem.

The core of Korean economic risk lies in inappropriately coping with inactivity of investment, lowering of growth potentiality, and growth without creating jobs. The government and the nation should instead gather their power to solve the key problems of the economy instead of feeling anxious about the political situation. For the sake of this, I expect that Goh, the acting President, and Lee, a deputy prime minister, will exercise their leadership, and that people of every social standing will cooperate.