The People Power Party criticized the government's reorganization plan to split the Ministry of Economy and Finance into the Ministry of Planning and Budget and the Ministry of Finance and Economy, and to restructure the Financial Services Commission into the Financial Supervisory Commission, saying it is "walking the path where past governments failed." Experts and labor unions of financial companies who attended the forum also expressed opposition, calling it "armchair theorizing that does not understand the field."
The People Power Party held a "forum on the Ministry of Economy and Finance and Financial Services Commission reorganization plan" at the National Assembly on the 17th. It was arranged to hear expert opinions on the government reorganization being pushed by the government and the ruling party. Kim Do-eup, the People Power Party's policy committee chairperson, said, "The Ministry of Economy and Finance is the last bastion guarding the nation's fiscal soundness, but the Lee Jae-myung administration seems to have judged that the checks by the ministry are an obstacle," adding, "I see it as an attempt to bypass the ministry by creating a separate Ministry of Planning and Budget under the prime minister to seize budget authority."
Kim said, "The prime minister's authority will become abnormally bloated, and fiscal management will become abnormal," stressing, "I believe backroom and slip-of-paper budgets will be revived."
Park Soo-young, the opposition secretary of the National Assembly Strategy and Finance Committee, also said, "A government reorganization affects not only the direction of an administration but also the direction of the entire Republic of Korea, yet the ruling party submitted a bill 10 days ago and is pushing it without even gathering opinions," adding, "I cannot agree with the idea of ramming it through dictatorially and passing it with the power of the majority party." Yoon Han-hong, who chairs the National Policy Committee, also criticized, saying, "When announcing the government reorganization, there was no process of gathering opinions from stakeholders," and "The ruling party is handling it unilaterally."
Experts and financial institution employees who attended on site also voiced concern. Koo Min-gyo, a professor at Seoul National University's Graduate School of Public Administration who delivered the keynote, said, "This reorganization plan shakes again the financial triangle formed after the 2008 global financial crisis," noting, "As the Ministry of Finance and Economy absorbs financial industry policy and the Financial Services Commission is reorganized into the Financial Supervisory Commission, conflicts of interest among financial bureaucratic organizations could expand further, and the independence of financial policy and the macroeconomic coordination function are more likely to be weakened."
Koo said, "If budget authority is transferred to the Ministry of Planning and Budget, the process of budgeting and execution will be at greater risk of being swayed by political logic than now," adding, "It could simultaneously weaken the independence of financial policy and the stability of fiscal policy, and amid already high household, government, and public-debt burdens, it is highly likely to act as a factor that further increases uncertainty in the Korean economy."
Kim Sang-bong, a professor of economics at Hansung University, expressed concern about increasing the number of financial market supervisory authorities from the current two to four. Kim said, "Even under two supervisory authorities, financial companies can barely breathe; if it becomes four, it will be hard to properly do finance domestically, let alone enter overseas markets where we should be going," adding, "Excessive regulation of financial companies is a concern."
Financial institution employees share the same view. Lee Chang-uk, the labor union chairperson at NH Investment & Securities, criticized, saying, "The government reorganization plan to separate and establish the Financial Consumer Protection Agency, which handles consumer protection functions within the FSS, is a classic case of armchair theorizing that does not understand the field," adding, "If the FSS is split in two, the first thing to arise will be duplication of personnel and equipment, and the duplicated operating costs will be reflected entirely as an increase in financial companies' contributions."
Oh Sang-hun, the labor union chairperson at Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, also said, "It is necessary to review whether the government's organizational reorganization to separate the financial consumer agency is not a hastily pushed policy."
Policy committee chairperson Kim Do-eup said, "On Sept. 22, we will hold a policy parliamentary caucus after compiling the results of the relay forums on the government reorganization plan."