South Korea’s new finance minister, Hong Nam-Ki, faces a challenge that is different from those faced by most of his predecessors overseeing a radical overhaul of the economy.
With President Moon Jae-In intent on addressing long-standing national problems such as income inequality, high unemployment, and the dominance of large conglomerates, Asia’s fourth-largest economy has been set on the road to change.
The new economic direction, which Moon believes will lead to innovative and income-driven growth, stands in stark contrast to the country’s export-led growth of recent decades that was spearheaded by the chaebols like Samsung, Hyundai, SK and LG.
One of...