choongsoo kim : 60th anniversary of the bank of korea address by mr choongsoo kim, governor of the bank of korea, on the occasion of the bank of korea ’ s 60th anniversary, seoul, 11 june 2010. the following is an unofficial english translation. * * * dear fellow members of the bank of korea, today we gather to commemorate that day 60 years ago when the bank of korea took its first steps as the central bank of the republic of korea. let me begin by taking this opportunity to express my very deepest gratitude to all former members of the bank, for their dedication to development of the bank and the national economy. i feel sincere appreciation also to all of those who have taken interest in the bank over the years, and been so unstinting in their encouragement and sage counsel to make the bank what it is today. i would like to give warm thanks as well to all current members of our staff, for carrying out your responsibilities so faithfully. looking back over the years, the bank of korea has contributed more than any other institution to the course that has taken our nation, ever since the bank ’ s foundation in 1950, from a newly emerging poorest country to one that has grown into oecd membership and further into the position as this year ’ s g20 chair. early on, the bank of korea actively underpinned both the operation of a wartime economy during the korean war, immediately after its foundation, and the work of economic reconstruction that followed the war ’ s cessation. from the 1960s, the bank endeavored to raise investment resources through promotion of savings and to supply money for economic growth, making it possible for the economy to maintain continued rapid growth for many years. from the early 1990s, the bank of korea pushed ahead very actively with interest rate liberalization, the realignment of policy financing, and capital and foreign exchange deregulation – in the course of economic opening, internationalization, and the shifting into a market economy in korea. during the recent global financial crisis, by putting into place bold and resolute policies to counter it, the bank also contributed notably to the korean economy ’ s rapid recovery. dear friends and colleagues, the accomplishments of the bank of korea over the last 60 years should be highly evaluated. we can never be satisfied with what we are now, however, if we are to open a glorious new chapter in our history, commensurate with the dignity of our entire nation reaching out to

shocks. 5 meanwhile, the asia - pacific seems to be well placed to a double harvest in terms of the positive effects from the progress of regional financial integration. first, since regional economies show large differences, for example in terms of economic development status, population aging and the degree of financial market development, the wide diversity within the region makes for possible complementary financial transactions within the region. for instance, if an aged country with a high degree of capital accumulation and a low growth rate invests in a country with a younger demographic structure and showing relatively strong growth, benefits accrue to both parties, 6 such as improving profitability and the raising of required funds. we need to set the methods and appropriate degree of financial integration in the asia - pacific, bearing in mind the lessons from the global financial crisis and the latest ones from the euro area. the global financial crisis highlighted the danger of the excessive financial integration of advanced economies, including the u. s. and european countries, 7 and the euro area crisis was attributable to the serious internal imbalances accumulated by financial integration 8 that was blind to the differences in industrial competitiveness within the region. the degree of regional financial integration should therefore be set within a level at which the positive effects, such as risk diversification and sharing, are not offset by the negative effects from spillovers. furthermore, just as a variety of species helps reduce the possibility of the collapse of an ecosystem, 9 financial integration in the asia - pacific that rungcharoenkitkul ( 2011 ). mcguire and rixtel ( 2012 ). jin and jokish ( 2011 ). aizenman et al. ( 2011 ). carton and herve ( 2012 ). haldane ( 2009 ). bis central bankers ’ speeches recognizes and makes the most of the diversity of regional economies will further strengthen financial system stability. moreover, since the asia - pacific accounts for 30 percent of total global gdp and 46 percent of total global population in 2012, respectively, and includes economies with developed financial markets such as japan, australia, singapore and hong kong sar, the region is fully capable of developing its own regional financial markets. policy tasks for financial stability in the asian and pacific region after undergoing the asian financial crisis from 1997 to 1998, asian emerging economies, while proceeding with capital account liberalization, improved the resilience of their economies by individually achieving moderate inflation, a sound fiscal policy, and a current account surplus and building up foreign currency reserves