Survivors become The strong 경제위기 대응실록 (영문판)

강자가 살아남는 것이 아니라 살아남는 자가 강자다!
두 번의 경제위기에서 한국은 어떻게 살아남았나?
강만수 전 기획재정부 장관이 기록한 한국경제 생존기

“한국경제는 시련과 위기 속에 피어난 도전의 역사입니다. 당신은 늘 그 도전의 앞자리에 섰습니다. 2008년 글로벌금융위기 때는 기획재정부 장관으로서 한국경제가 위기를 딛고 일어나도록 이끌었습니다. 설득엔 서툴렀지만 포기하거나 돌아가지 않았습니다. 세월은 흐르지만 영혼이 깃든 정책은 남습니다. 당신의 헌신은 오래도록 기억될 것입니다. 때로는 비판하며, 때로는 옹호했던 기자단이 오늘 이 자그마한 감사패를 드립니다.”

저자가 장관에서 물러난 후 몇 년이 지난 2012년 11월 15일, 글로벌금융위기 당시 기획재정부 출입기자단이 저자에게 전달한 감사패의 내용이다. “18년 기자생활을 했는데 지난 1년간 쓴 기사가 과거 17년간 쓴 기사보다 많았다”라는 어느 기자의 말처럼 2008년은 글로벌경제위기 극복을 위해 수많은 대책들을 쏟아낸 한 해였고, 그 중심에서 저자는 누구보다 무거운 책임을 어깨에 짊어져야 했다. 1997년 재정경제부 차관으로서 아시아금융위기와 싸웠고 2008년 기획재정부 장관으로서 또다시 글로벌경제위기에 맞서야 했던, 어쩌면 유일하게 두 번의 위기 모두를 가장 치열하고 냉혹한 현장에서 온몸으로 겪어낸 저자의 이력은 그 자체로 한국경제가 걸어온 길을 증명한다.
이 책은 한국의 모습을 바꿔놓은 두 위기, 아시아금융위기와 세계경제위기에 관한 흥미 있는 기록으로서, 험난한 파도 사이를 직접 헤쳐 나갔던 관점에서 위기요인의 확산, 격동의 날들, 위기극복을 위한 정치적ㆍ외교적 협상에 대한 상세한 내용을 서술하고 있다. 위기에 부딪혀 한국경제가 어떠한 선택을 했는지, 과연 그 선택은 어떠한 맥락에서 이루어졌는지, 또 어떠한 결과로 이어져왔는지를 이해하고자 한다면 반드시 읽어야 할 책이다.

“The Korean economy is a history of challenge that has blossomed amid hardship and crises. You have always stood at the forefront in facing challenges. During the 2008 global financial crisis, you led the Korean economy as Minister of Finance to rise from the crisis. You were unskilled at persuasion, but didn’t give up or circumvent. Time passes by, but policies with soul last. Your devotion will be long remembered. We, the press corps who criticized sometimes and defended other times, present you today with this small plaque of appreciation.”

This was what was written on the plaque of appreciation presented to the author on November 15, 2012, several years after retirement from the Minister of Finance post, by the members of the Press Corps at the Ministry of Finance during the time of global financial crisis. As a journalist recalled, "I have worked as a journalist for 18 years, and I have written more articles during this one year than I did for the past 17 years", 2008 was a year marked by a continuous series of numerous countermeasures to overcome the global economic crisis, while the author, in the center of this turmoil, had to bear the heavy burden. The path taken by the author, perhaps one of the only officials to confront two crises in the fierce and harsh field, battling the 1997 Asian financial crisis as Vice Minister of Finance and tackling the 2008 global economic crisis as Minister of Finance, chronicles path that the Korean economy has traveled.
This book provides a gripping record on the two crises, Asian financial crisis and global economic crisis, that have changed and shaped Korea, with detailed first hand accounts on the causes of the crises, turbulent times during the crisis, and political and diplomatic negotiations in the process of tackling the crisis. It is a must read if one wishes to gain a true insight on the Korean economy, decisions that had to be made in times of crises, how decisions were made, and what resulted from such decisions.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The ebb and flow of global liquidity and the associated fluctuations in financial conditions has been a constant backdrop to the global economy following the advent of financial globalization. Many countries and regions have been touched by the ebb and flow of global liquidity but few countries have been affected as much as Korea. It was one of those countries most severely affected by the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998 and it was again at the sharp end of the global financial crisis unleashed in 2008 after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.
It was Man-Soo Kang’s fate to be standing at the helm of the ship that was the Korean economy on both occasions, steering the ship through treacherous waters?as the Vice Minister of Finance during the Asian crisis and then as the Finance Minister during the global financial crisis of 2008, having spent the intervening ten years in the political wilderness. In this extraordinary book, Man-Soo Kang has produced a gripping account of the two financial crises that has shaped the modern Korean psyche viewed from the ship’s bridge.
The book details the build-up of vulnerabilities and gives a unique glimpse into the frantic days following the outbreak of crisis and the political and diplomatic deals that officials struck to quell the crisis. Throughout the book we are given the sketch of an official with the steely determination to do the right thing, even if it means courting short-term unpopularity.
On a personal note, I had the privilege of serving alongside Man-Soo Kang on the President’s staff in Korea in 2010, and many of the personal traits that I admired and learned from during those times are on display in the pages of the book.
- Hyun Song Shin Economic Adviser and Head of Research Bank for International Settlements and former Professor of Economics at Princeton University

FORM THE BOOK

“In 2008, foreign media sarcastically described Korea’s economic situation as ‘1997 rewind’, ‘heading for black September’, ‘Asia’s Iceland’, and ‘as risky as Poland’. However, they quickly switched to plaudits the next year when Korea began recovering at the fastest pace in the OECD. Bloomberg ran a column, ‘Hats off to officials in Seoul’ on July, 2009. Financial Times said that Korea was no more a loser, the economy was as big as India’s with a population 20 times larger than Korea’s, and the exports was bigger than that of the UK on February, 2010. On August, 2011, the IMF praised that the Korean government’s fast and decisive measures set a textbook example on how to stimulate an economy in recession.”

“We became stronger and got seven achievements in tackling the 2008 turmoil with the “get-up-and-go” spirit and by turning the crisis into an opportunity. They were; the fastest recovery in the OECD; rise as the world’s seventh largest exporter; the world’s highest R&D investment relative to GDP; switchover to capital exporter; highest credit rating in Asia; transformation into a rule making country; and transition from a recipient to a donor.”

“In this new era, it is increasingly true that the strong don’t always survive but survivors become the strong. Zero interest rates and quantitative easing were phenomenon of a new form of currency war, and we do not know where it is heading. They may be adding fuel to the bubbles that sparked the crisis, deepening the problems even further.”