The Korean Economy at a Crossroads

Koret Distinguished Lecture Series: Lecture V

During the past five decades, the South Korean economy has achieved stellar success. The country has been transformed from an impoverished, war-stricken, agrarian society into an industrial powerhouse. Today Korea has the world’s 14th-largest economy and per capita GDP of $28,000. Yet the economy is now at a crossroads. Korea is losing its dynamism and facing serious challenges, including a rapidly aging society, declining working age population, reduced potential growth rate, increasing demand for welfare expenditures, worsening inequality, and fewer decent jobs. Moreover, the prospect of unification poses not only opportunities but also challenges. Kyung Wook Hur will discuss Korea’s urgent need to find new engines of growth and take other steps to meet these challenges to the future of the Korean economy.

From May 2010 to May 2013, Kyung Wook Hur was Ambassador of the Permanent Delegation of Korea to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), where he also served as chair of the OECD Pension Budget and Reserve Fund Management Board, co-chair of the Working Group on OECD Development Strategy, and chair of the Informal Reflection Group on China. He was Korea’s Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance from January 2009 to May 2010 and Secretary to the President for National Agenda from March 2008 to January 2009. During a career in the Korean government that began in 1979, he focused on macroeconomic policies, international financial policy, economic policy coordination, and budget planning. Outside of the Korean government, he also worked for various international financial organizations, including the World Bank (as a Young Professional), the International Finance Corporation, and the International Monetary Fund.

Currently Ambassador Hur is a visiting professor at both the Korea Development Institute’s School of Public Policy and Management and Seoul National University’s Graduate School of International Studies, and an advisor to the ASEAN +3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO). He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst. He received a BA in business administration from Seoul National University and an MBA from Stanford University. 

 

The Koret Distinguished Lecture Series is made possible through the generous support of the Koret Foundation.