Park Soo-young, a member of the People Power Party, criticized Ryu Deok-hyeon, a financial planning advisor at the presidential office, saying, "There are sighs that this government really does not understand the economy."
As the opposition party's secretary of the Strategy and Finance Committee, Park noted on the 5th on his social media that "Even a presidential economic advisor is labeled as 'economically illiterate' under the administration of debt-laden government." He stated, "The won, which is a non-reserve currency, lags behind reserve currencies like the dollar, yen, and euro in its issuance power and demand. If the Bank of Korea indiscriminately prints won, the value of the won could plummet, and the country's credit rating could drop." He continued, "Printing money to pay off debts is something only reserve currency countries like the United States can do."
The remarks of Advisor Ryu, whom Park criticized, came from a press conference the previous day. Ryu stated, "We have no choice but to issue government bonds. Japan, Italy, and France also have a national debt ratio that exceeds 100%," adding, "There is no need to discuss whether it is a reserve or non-reserve currency."
In response, Park emphasized, "Even for a reserve currency country, fiscal expansion is no different from a ticking time bomb," pointing out that "Japan, the second-largest economy in the world in the 1980s, experienced a 'lost 30 years' after the bubble burst in 1992 due to reckless expansionary fiscal policy. Italy boasted the third-largest economy in the eurozone in 2011 but became a catalyst for the European financial crisis in 2012 after its national debt ratio rose to over 125% of GDP due to indiscriminate fiscal expansion." He also mentioned that France announced a fiscal austerity plan in July due to chronic fiscal deficits and experienced a stock market crash.
Park questioned, "Given these realities, what kind of person is the presidential economic advisor who uses Japan, Italy, and France as examples to say that it is fine for national debt to increase?" He stressed, "A complacent awareness of national debt will only lead to the bankruptcy of Korea's finances."