chang yong rhee : speech - 74th anniversary of the bank of korea speech by mr chang yong rhee, governor of the bank of korea, to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the bank of korea, seoul, 12 june 2024. * * * i would like to thank byungkuk kim, yeonkyo choi and youngrae kim for their help in preparing this speech. * this is an unofficial translation of the original speech released on 12 june 2024. dear fellow bank of korea colleagues, today marks the 74th anniversary of the establishment of the bank of korea. i wish to express my sincere gratitude to our predecessors who have led us to where we are today and to the esteemed members of the monetary policy board who are always striving to safeguard our national economy. i would also like to thank all our dedicated staff for their hard work in their respective roles during these challenging times. additionally, i extend my appreciation to everyone who supports and encourages us, particularly the families of our staff. today is more meaningful to me personally because it marks the first anniversary of the second half of my tenure, two years after i joined the bank. rather than looking back over the past two years, i would like to discuss the road ahead. the challenges we face now are critical, and how we handle them will influence how our past efforts are judged. turning first to the monetary policy environment, i am relieved to see signs that our economy has been recovering faster than previously expected, as gdp growth in the last quarter exceeded expectations. behind these growth indicators, however, there is a clear difference in the pace of recovery between exports and domestic demand, and even within the domestic sector, the perceived recovery varies significantly across segments. while inflation continues to decline, upside risks have increased due to stronger - than - expected growth and higher exchange rate volatility due to uncertainties in major countries'monetary policies, along with persistent geopolitical risks. i understand that many people are still suffering from high inflation and high interest rates. however, unless inflation is firmly stabilized, the vulnerable will face even greater difficulties due to decreasing real incomes and soaring living costs. moreover, if a premature pivot to a dovish stance leads back to unstable inflation and necessitates another rate hike, the policy cost at that time will be much higher. therefore, we need to remain patient and maintain our current tight monetary stance until we are confident that inflation will converge on the target level. of course,

bank. this trust can only be earned through our continuous efforts to enhance our expertise and capabilities. dear fellow members of the bok family, 3 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches we have been driving various changes, including new management and personnel measures, to meet the people's growing expectations of the central bank and to foster a sound organizational culture. i believe we are seeing some positive results both in and out of our bank. internally, there has been more active information sharing and debate among our staff, while externally our policy proposals are drawing significant social response. our policy communication through various channels, including blogs and social media, has also attracted attention. now our focus should be put on developing this momentum of change even further so that it becomes deeply rooted in our organizational culture. this can be facilitated by establishing a horizontal organization based on a shared consensus for change, and participating voluntarily out of a sense of ownership. while the organization can chart the course for the great ship bank of korea, it is you who hold the helm and steer the path. we must create a culture where people feel free to bring ideas from the bottom up and implement their ideas through cross - functional collaboration and task forces, instead of being told what to do. individual outcomes earned through this process should be freely made public and recognized as one's own achievement. the " smart maverick, " recently proposed in a report by our economic research institute as the key driver of innovation in our economy, is someone we also need at our bank ( lee et al., 2024 ). i hope our staff will from time to time think out of the box and actively propose ideas just like a " smart maverick " would, taking the initiative in our innovation efforts. i look forward to seeing such a culture established soon. i also ask you to keep moving forward with strong faith in each other, so that the series of measures we have pursued will yield the hoped - for results. dear fellow bank of korea colleagues, on my office desk, there is a plaque with a quote from former u. s. president ronald reagan that says, " there is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit. " the capabilities of the bank of korea will double if we remove the barriers between departments and work together with a mindset that everyone shares the credit, rather than arguing over who will get the reward. similarly, we could do more if we weren't so worried