President Park Geun-hye held her official New Year’s annual press conference on January 6 and expressed her will to promote economic innovation and to improve both inter-Korean relations and the welfare of the people. “I will spend the new year making every effort to help the economy take great strides forward and to bring vitality and growth to the country and the people,” said the president at the press conference.

President Park explained her detailed policy plans aimed at facilitating economic recovery, building trust on the peninsula, improving inter-Korean relations, with the final goal of a successful unification, and pursuing the happiness of the people and the overall development of the country. She introduced her “three-year economic innovation plan,” and said that if her plans are carried out successfully, “The potential growth of the Korean economy will jump by four percent and our per capita income will exceed USD 30,000 three years later.”




Emphasizing the importance of her “three-year economic innovation plan,” her main goal for the second year of her single five-year term, the president said that the pace of economic recovery will be maintained with the successful implementation of her plan.

President Park’s three-year plan involves reforms in the public sector, the development of the creative industries through the pursuit of her “creative economy vision,” and a rebalancing between domestic demand and exports through the revitalization of the domestic market.

To pursue her vision for the creative economy, the president said that she will launch private-public joint structures that will involve the government, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), venture start-ups and major companies. She also emphasized the importance of the energy and environmental sectors, saying that, “If we have creative ideas, we can better respond to climate change and deal with the environment by creating new value-added services and new markets.” In this respect, she said that Korea will expand its research and development (R&D) in reducing green house gas emissions. “To solve both energy issues and issues of the environment, we will build an 'environmentally friendly energy town' where people will be able to produce and trade electricity by using renewable energy sources suitable for the region.”

In regard to domestic demand, President Park said that her administration will support SMEs so that they can invest more into the economy and contribute to invigorating the domestic market. She said that the government will focus on five selected service industries: health and medical care, tourism, finance, education and software. “To help small- and mid-sized firms grow and gain more competitiveness, the government will provide customized support,” said the president. She proposed a support structure for these smaller companies that would include not only financial support but also access to information and networks of larger companies related to their penetration into overseas markets.

In regard to Korean Peninsula issues, President Park said that, “Building the foundation for unification of the Korean Peninsula is another core task,” of her administration. The president expressed her will to consider various measures that might help to lead Pyongyang toward the complete dismantlement of its nuclear program. She said that the complete dismantlement of North Korean nuclear weapons is the key policy of her administration, fundamental to the eventual unification of the Korean Peninsula. “If the North takes a sincere step toward denuclearization, the two Koreas and the international community will be able to make meaningful changes, not only for substantial peace on the Korean Peninsula but also for co-prosperity across Northeast Asia,” said the president. To build the foundation for unification, President Park said that Seoul will strengthen its humanitarian aid toward the North and bolster cooperation with the international community to form a common understanding of unification.

To further improve inter-Korean relations, she proposed the resumption of family reunions during the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays, the building of a world peace park in the DMZ and the finalization of a railroad system connecting all of Eurasia. Based on her Northeast Asia peace vision and her Eurasia initiative, the president added that her administration will make every effort so that the unification of the Korean Peninsula would benefit all of its neighboring countries and contribute to the co-prosperity of the region.

By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
arete@korea.kr