President Park Geun-hye's nominee for South Korea's financial watchdog said Monday that he will do his utmost in breaking the vicious cycle of "greed" rampant in the market and devote himself to making the country free of financial crises.
"When the instinct of greed overwhelms fear, the financial market is facing an unreasonable bubble. And when the bubble comes to the fore, fear runs out of control, leading to the collapse of the market itself and causing a crisis," Shin Je-yoon, the nominee for the Financial Services Commission (FSC), said in his keynote speech at the hearing.
"Financial crisis is just like perennial weeds so we have to look even into the areas that cannot be easily monitored," he added. "If I am given the chance to serve as the head of the FSC, I will work hard to make this country free of financial crisis."
Shin, who had worked as vice finance minister in charge of overall economic affairs for the past few years, promised to focus on breaking the vicious cycle of "greed and fear," while cultivating a culture where they could be replaced by "tolerance and restraint."
In a move to speed up the transition, Shin said that he will push for securing a sufficient amount of foreign currency liquidity, strengthening soundness of financial companies and tackling such potential problems as rising household debt that could weigh on the country's overall economy.
He also told lawmakers that he will push for fair enforcement of regulations in order to establish law and order in the financial market.
