President Park Geun-hye put forth new solutions to low growth and imbalance facing the global economy at the G20 Summit which took place in St. Petersburg, Russia from September 5 to 6. 

At the September 5 opening session under the theme “The Growth of the Global Economy,” President Park emphasized that a stimulus program exit strategy with the planned reduction of quantitative easing might cause “negative repercussions” on developed nations such as financial instabilities if struck without taking into consideration the financial situation faced by emerging economies, while acknowledging such an exit plan would help get the global economy back on track. 

During the September 6 session themed on “Job Creation and Investment,” Park proposed, in a lead speech, her “creative economy” vision as a new approach to the creation of quality jobs. “Amid poor economic growth, the global economy still faces high unemployment and widening economic inequalities following the global financial crisis,” the president explained. “In that sense, I see eye to eye with the host country Russia on the importance of job creation and inclusive growth as the agenda for this G20 summit.” 

As for political measures to solve such issues, Park stated that “more multilateral examinations are needed to see if there are any structural deficiencies in the market economy overall,” championing her creative economy vision and also “a disciplined market economy” as new approaches. 

“The past economy used to run on mineral resources, whereas what drives the creative economy I envision is creative ideas,” Park contended.

Citing the Korean singer Psy who caused a sensation worldwide with his hit song “Gangnam Style,” she said, “his ‘Gangnam Style’ YouTube video has been viewed 1.7 billion times around the world, creating significant added value, which provides a good example for the creative economy.” 

On top of that, Park said that start-ups and venture firms would serve as a catalyst for the creative economy. 

“Hopefully there will be more opportunities to discuss ways of helping vitalize and grow start-ups and venture companies in a sound way, for example improving their approaches to the financial market, protecting their intellectual property rights, and activating R&D efforts.” 

Regarding another new approach -- a disciplined market economy -- Park also pointed out such unfair practices as big companies’ abuse of market dominance and unfair transactions.

Emphasizing the need for G20-level approaches to rooting out such unfair activities and working toward inclusive growth through job creation, Park called on international organizations including the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and ILO (International Labour Organization) to look closely at the two approaches she proposed, affirming they could bring more jobs.