South Korean president Park Geun-hye announced in her January 6 New Year’s address to the nation a three-year plan for “economic innovation,” with the goals of increasing Korea’s economic growth rate to 4 percent, employment to 70 percent, and per capita income to $40,000—the “474” vision. Park’s strategies to achieve these targets include tackling public sector reforms and righting “ill practices rampant in our society”; boosting domestic demand through promoting Korea’s long-underperforming small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and services sector; and fostering a “creative economy.” While much commentary has focused on the feasibility of the “474” slogan—drawing some parallels with former President Lee Myung-bak’s overly ambitious “747” growth plan, more significant is the underlying objective of fostering the innovation that will sustain Korea’s future economic competitiveness.
Image: President of South Korea Park Geun-hye advocated her “creative economy” vision during a session at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 22, 2014 (Denis Balibouse/Courtesy Reuters).
To read the original article: Asia Unbound » Sean Connell: Korea’s Creative Approach to Economic Competitiveness
