With President Lee Jae-myung issuing an emergency order to halt all sales of state-owned assets, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which had actively pursued such sales, is now under fire. As the president has labeled sales conducted under the previous administration as "fire-sale disposals," the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) has been put in a bind where it is difficult to say either that it "did" sell at fire-sale prices or that it "did not."
According to reporting compiled on the 4th, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) postponed a planned briefing that day regarding the president's emergency order. The MOEF Spokesperson's Office explained the reason for the delay, saying, "We believe it would be more effective to review various matters, including an examination of existing sale procedures overall, and provide an explanation later." The MOEF plans to hold a related briefing as early as on the 6th.
Within the MOEF, the department in charge of state-owned assets began communicating continuously with the presidential office in Yongsan after the emergency order was delivered, working to understand the background behind the directive. In the process, the department reportedly concluded that it only needed to suspend ongoing state-asset sale cases and focused on identifying which sales would be halted.
However, the presidential office's intent went beyond a simple suspension, directing a comprehensive review of such matters as cases among the previous administration's state-asset sales that did not follow due process, reasons why auction awards were made at prices significantly below appraised values, and ways to improve the procedures for selling state-owned assets. In the end, the MOEF department adjusted the schedule to conduct a comprehensive review first and then brief.
Within government circles, attention is on the MOEF's forthcoming inspection results. From the MOEF's standpoint, given the National Assembly's audit findings and the president's emergency order, it is difficult to announce that there were no procedural problems in the sales process. Conversely, if it acknowledges that "there were fire-sale disposals," it would not only be admitting that past policy was flawed but also have to brace for personnel disadvantages for specific staff, such as those in charge of the work.
A senior official at the MOEF said, "Sales of state-owned assets are decided by the State Property Policy Deliberation Committee, and it is a structure in which a single individual cannot make the decision," adding, "We may be able to derive measures to improve the deliberation process, but it will be difficult to hold the then committee chair, among others, accountable."
In the same vein, there is speculation that rather than conducting a probe-like review of past sales, the MOEF will focus on seeking ways to secure proper prices when selling state-owned assets in the future. It is reported that within the MOEF there are assessments such as, "Did publicly signaling that we would actively sell state-owned assets induce lower winning bids?"
Some also argue that in the sales process, the public interest should be weighed alongside economic efficiency when assessing the value of state-owned assets. Senior research fellow Lee Sang-min at the Institute for Fiscal Studies said, "For state-owned assets, it is important to get the right price when selling, but more important is to focus on whether value added or utility is greater when the private sector uses them than when the state retains them," adding, "Along with comparing appraised and winning bid prices, procedures are needed to properly evaluate retention value and sale value."