to ourselves than to others. only when we have created an environment in which we can compete against all comers from both within and outside the bis central bankers ’ speeches organization, based on open - mindedness and open practices, can we keep ourselves on a tight rein and hone our skills. we should constantly bear in mind the question, “ what does the bank of korea mean to me, and who am i to the bank of korea? ” if you get into the habit of asking yourself, “ what if this organization were to work well without me? ” as you go about your business, you will develop yourselves as time passes. the easy way means doing a familiar job, which will only result in following the same old path as in the past. long - term employees will of course have contributed more greatly to the development of the current organization than short - term employees. however, the future of the organization lies in its young employees, and therefore when institutional consideration is given to younger workers who will work for longer periods to encourage their further development, we can say that they are being treated with respect. we must all understand that this is also a precondition for securing higher quality minds, and that such efforts are a shortcut to establishing a virtuous circle ensuring that the organization develops another stage further as a result. when we come together like this, to choose the difficult path of reaching out to “ the future and to the world ”, glorious days will unfold before us. the future belongs to those who are prepared for it. the year 2014 is called the year of the blue horse. legend has it that it brings people fortune. and what greater fortune for us is there than national economic development and a flourishing bank of korea? i hope that 2014 will be a year in which the practice of sowing seeds continuously takes root, rather than that of trying to reap the harvest of those sown in the past many years. in this new year ahead of us, i wish the very best of good fortune and happiness to all members of the bok and their families. january 2, 2014 choongsoo kim governor the bank of korea bis central bankers ’ speeches

factors such as government services, institutions, human capital, and natural environment, among others. the quality of less mobile factors of a region will determine the extent to which it can attract mobile factors for production such as physical capital and finance. in this respect, the recipe for success is very much the same between regional economic development within the national border and globalization beyond the national border. in a globalized world, economic success of an individual country would be determined largely by how much productive investment and finance it can attract. and the abundance or lack of its own mobile factors would be neither a constraint nor an advantage that a country would face in its economic development. likewise, regions within a country are competing with each other for investment resources available domestically or internationally, and their success depends on how attractive they bis central bankers ’ speeches are as the destination of investment. as such, the essence of such competition should focus on how to upgrade the quality of less mobile factors of each region. in this light, i should emphasize the leading role of local governments and also the central government in promoting regional economic development. to be specific, local governments should provide a clear vision and framework for sustainable development with detailed strategies to support business and human capital development. deregulations, supportive tax system, and administrative services would then be designed within the framework. the central government could incentivize regional development by delegating more authorities to local governments for their autonomy and, more importantly, by prioritizing the allocation of fiscal resources among local governments according at least in part to their supportive performance in regional economic development. it would be ideal if regional development strategies are closely nested with national development strategies in the first place. ladies and gentlemen, promoting economic development is always a highly complex task. it requires a myriad of inputs including knowledge, information, network, dedicated efforts of the people, and good luck as well. and we all know that economic development is an evolutionary process of learning and adaptation. today ’ s seminar is particularly meaningful in that we will learn from the rich experiences of our advanced peers, especially germany and japan. i believe that learning from others ’ experiences is as important and productive as learning by doing. and i am sure that this seminar will offer very useful guidance to our long journey to rebuild this region ’ s economy. i look forward to your active exchange of ideas and in - depth discussions. thank you once again for joining us today. bis central bankers ’ speeches