width
연합뉴스 By Chang Jae-soon
SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak said Monday South Korea should maintain its fiscal health, warning that reckless welfare policies could lead to national default as seen in the case of the debt crisis in Greece.
Lee also said that fiscal soundness is also key to realizing what he called "ecosystemic development" aimed at creating a "warm-hearted society in which the strong and the weak, the haves and have-nots, and big businesses and small businesses can work together for the sake of common progress."
The remarks came two days before Wednesday‘s referendum on Seoul‘s opposition-led free school lunch program that Lee‘s ruling Grand National Party and Mayor Oh Se-hoon have denounced as a populist policy that should be blocked at any cost.
Oh said Sunday that he would stake his mayorship on the result of the vote.
"The key to the success of ecosystemic development is the fiscal soundness of our nation. Only when our nation maintains sound finances would it be possible for the government to take care of low-income families who suffer first when the economy is bad," Lee said during his biweekly radio address recorded last week.
On Monday, Lee was in Mongolia as part of a three-nation tour to Central Asia.
"If we fail to secure fiscal soundness amidst the rapidly changing global economy, it would be tantamount to voyaging on a vast sea in a leaky boat," Lee said. "We can learn a great lesson from some southern European countries, which are on the brink of national bankruptcy due to indiscriminately expanded welfare benefits instituted to win the favor of the public."
Lee quoted professor Aristides N. Hatzis of the University of Athens as saying that the bankruptcy in Greece is attributable to two giant political parties that competitively engaged in welfare populism. The professor also advised Korea never to follow the suit of Greece, Lee said.
"The entitlement policies that are being carried out already are hard to stop. When unreasonable policies result in wasting money, the consequence is government debt. The whole amount of which will then be turned over to our children, weighing them down," he said.
| NO. | 제 목 |  |
등록일자 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4313 | [보도]좌우 가리지 않는 바른소리…중도-보수-진보 그랜드슬램…그러나 내편도 네편도 없는… 자유기업원 / 2011-10-13 |
||
| 4312 | [보도]범보수 지식인들 대거 참여 ‘보수를 논하다´ 자유기업원 / 2011-10-13 |
||
| 4311 | [보도]한국 하이에크 소사이어티 심포지엄 14일 개최 자유기업원 / 2011-10-13 |
||
| 4310 | [보도]*** 김정호의 알기 쉬운 경제교실 - 문화의 가치와 경쟁력 자유기업원 / 2011-10-13 |
||
| 4309 | [보도]다산경제학상 정갑영 교수 자유기업원 / 2011-10-13 |
||
| 4308 | [보도]다산경제학상에 정갑영 교수 자유기업원 / 2011-10-13 |
||
| 4307 | [보도]10월 13일 동정 자유기업원 / 2011-10-13 |
||
| 4306 | [보도]<휴먼다큐멘터리2> 좌-우-중 ‘그랜드슬램’ 상복(賞福)은 이한구의 운명 자유기업원 / 2011-10-13 |
||
| 4305 | [보도][동정] 정갑영 연세대 교수, 다산경제학상 수상 자유기업원 / 2011-10-13 |
||
| 4304 | [보도]정갑영 자유기업원 이사장 ‘산업조직’ 연구 다산경제학상 자유기업원 / 2011-10-13 |
||
| 4303 | [보도]정갑영 자유기업원 이사장, 제30회 다산경제학상 수상 자유기업원 / 2011-10-12 |
||
| 4302 | [보도]"우리는 ‘통영의 딸‘을 구해낼 의무가 있다!" 자유기업원 / 2011-10-12 |
||
| 4301 | [보도]정갑영 자유기업원 이사장, 제30회 다산경제학상 수상 자유기업원 / 2011-10-12 |
||
| 4300 | [보도]정갑영 자유기업원 이사장, 다산경제학상 ‘영예’ 자유기업원 / 2011-10-12 |
||
| 4299 | [보도]정갑영 자유기업원 이사장, ‘30회 다산경제학상’ 수상 자유기업원 / 2011-10-12 |
