juyeol lee : opening address - 2018 bank of korea international conference speech by mr juyeol lee, governor of the bank of korea, at the 2018 bank of korea international conference, seoul, 4 june 2018. * * * ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure for me to bid a warm welcome to you all, to the 2018 bank of korea international conference. i would like to express my sincerest gratitude to professor robert hall, of stanford university, and masaaki shirakawa, former governor of the bank of japan, who will deliver keynote speeches this morning, and to all of our distinguished moderators, speakers and discussants. let me also say how deeply i appreciate the invaluable contributions of professor thomas sargent to this conference, all the way from the planning stage. this year marks a decade since the global financial crisis upon the failure of lehman brothers. the global economy suffered the worst crisis since the great depression of the 1930s, and was long unable to recover from the recession that followed. fortunately, the global economy is now reemerging from the aftermaths of the crisis : growth has gained momentum, and the markets have stabilized. this is a result of many countries ’ work in cooperation to make their financial systems more stable. it is also due to their unprecedentedly bold and active monetary policies to support the recovery. central banks are now working to normalize the post - crisis policies. the environment for monetary policy has also changed significantly from the one prior to the crisis. in this differing environment, therefore, we have inevitably come to a position to consider how to perform our existing roles, as well as whether there are any new roles demanded to us. let me start by talking about some of these changes in the monetary policy environment facing many central banks today, and about the policy concerns arising from them. first are the concerns about the changing slope of the phillips curve. prior to the crisis, a fall in unemployment during recovery tended to result in a rise in inflation : that is, the phillips curve used to slope downward in the short - run. however, we are now having doubts about this relationship, hence are facing difficulties in deciding the policy. secondly, there are concerns that the neutral rate of interest － an important guiding measure for policy stance － may have fallen significantly. a lower neutral interest rate means that we have smaller room for policy rate cuts in face of the economic downturn. it makes the interest rate more likely to reach its lower bound, making

seung park : economic situation and monetary policy in korea contribution by mr seung park, governor of the bank of korea, to the korea times, 24 september 2003. * 1. * * the korean economic situation and outlook from early this year, korea has been experiencing the most difficult economic situation since overcoming the 1997 currency crisis. last year ’ s strong gdp growth of 6. 3 percent was achieved against the backdrop of the depressed world economy. this year, though, korean gdp grew only 3. 7 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period of the previous year before sliding further to 1. 9 percent in the second quarter. although economic activity appears not to have worsened from its trough in the second quarter, no clearly marked recovery trend has yet become evident. this lackluster economic performance came primarily from unfavorable external factors. the recovery of major economies worldwide and most significantly that of the u. s. proved to be delayed. uncertainty also mounted in response to the war in iraq, the north korean nuclear issue and the widespread outbreak of sars within east and southeast asia. unsurprisingly, domestic demand contracted greatly, particularly in the form of consumption and facilities investment. lately, external conditions have been showing a gradual improvement. after the early end to the war in iraq, the economies of the u. s. and japan have shown clear signs of a recovery. euroland has not yet shaken off its recession, but there too indicators of consumer and business confidence are picking up. china is again seeing strong economic growth now that sars has been contained. all in all, the general outlook for the global economy is brightening. in addition, hopes are growing that the north korean nuclear issue can be peacefully resolved as, prompted by the holding of multilateral talks, all the countries involved have stepped up their efforts to bring this about. the effects of the various pump - priming measures taken by the bank of korea and the government are expected to become progressively more tangible. for its part, the bank of korea has lowered its policy rate twice this year. meanwhile, fiscal expenditure is being expanded by the drawing - up and approval of a 4. 5 trillion - won ( nearly 38 billion - u. s. dollar ) supplementary budget. measures to reduce the tax burden have also been taken including the lowering of the rate of special excise tax and the granting of increased tax credits for investment. given the upturn in global conditions and the emerging effects of the economic stimulation