South Korea President sacks finance minister, policy chief
News & Trends •
it is a marked change from the growth model of the past driven by exports and investments by the souths major companies that has seen the south rise to become asias fourth-biggest economy1 president of south korea moon jae-in has sacked his finance minister kim dong-yeon and presidential chief of staff for policy jang ha-sung as the country struggles with slowing growth rising unemployment and persistent income gaps1 the pair had reportedly been at odds with each otherover how to address the situation in south korea which is the worlds 11th-largest economy1 moons global profile has been dominated by his role in the rapid diplomatic rapprochement with nuclear-armed north korea but at home his handling of the economy has become increasingly controversial contributing to falling poll ratings1 his administration has steeply raised south koreas minimum wages cut working hours and converted temporary staff to permanent in a series of redistributive moves it says will lead to what it calls income-led growth1 the two top economy officialshave already been replaced top blue house spokesman yoon young-chan said in a televised statement1 and critics say the moves have had the opposite effect to what was intended worsening the situation of many low-income earners and seeing small businesses cut staff while big firms hold back investment in the face of tougher regulation1 last month the central bank of korea cut its growth forecast for this year to 2.7 per cent down from the 3.1 per cent achieved in 20171 and unemployment jumped 0.4 percentage points to 3.8 per cent in the third quarter with youth joblessness at its highest since 1999 at 9.4 per cent1 finance minister kim had called for redistributive policies to be rowed back including minimum wage hikes while jang wanted to stick with pursuing equality1 kim was replaced by hong nam-ki a veteran bureaucrat while jang was succeeded by kim soo-hyun currently moons top social affairs adviser1