Labor Party Pledges to Stop Influx of Hot Money | ||||
By Yoon Won-sup Staff Reporter Democratic Labor Party (DLP) chairman Kwon Young-ghil on Friday pledged his party will seek measures to block the flow of short-term speculative investment by foreigners. ``Foreigners' speculative capital coming to South Korea could damage the foreign exchange market and the national economy,'' he said in an interview with The Korea Times. In the past week, foreign investors have rocked the local stock market by selling off shares on profit taking. Kwon said the DLP welcomes foreign investment as long as it helps create jobs here and stabilize the labor market. ``Foreign investors are supposed to build factories so they can create more jobs rather than engaging in speculative activities,'' the 63-year-old leader said. Regarding his party's top priority in the incoming National Assembly, Kwon called for the end to discrimination between regular and non-regular workers. ``We should turn the non-regular workers into regular ones as it will boost domestic demand when they will receive more disposable income,'' he said. He dismissed concerns that changing non-regular workers' status will raise labor costs and kindle an exodus of local companies to China. ``Chinese workers get one-tenth of what our workers are paid but I know that there are only a few companies who have been successful after moving their production facilities to China,'' he said. ``It is time for Korea to design a new economic roadmap and push for a new economic structure that doesn't rely on cheap labor,'' he explained. The DLP won 10 seats in the April 15 general elections to acquire representation in the Assembly for the first time. Kwon also said the Roh Moo-hyun administration's goal of attaining $20,000 in per capita income is unrealistic. He instead urged the government to focus its economic policy on the equal distribution of wealth. ``The current economic situation is that the bottom 95 percent of people feed the upper 5 percent with the unequal distribution of income.'' The DLP chairman said a worker he knows has worked for 35 years but still barely manages to make ends meet. ``When he started working 35 year ago, he worked hard as his employer told him to help increase the pie,'' Kwon said. ``However, he is not better off than when he started.'' Kwon also pledged to force the withdrawal of Seoul's plan to dispatch 3,000 troops to war-torn Iraq. ``Right after the incoming National Assembly opens on May 30, we will introduce a bill to revoke the troop deployment to Iraq,'' he said. ``The DLP will welcome other party's lawmakers joining our move, and I am sure the planned troop dispatch will be stopped.'' He said that he will seek the cooperation of ``conscientious members'' of other parties to thwart the bill. ``I am sure that our troops will not set foot in Iraq.'' Asked whether his party is leftist, Kwon expressed dislike for the question. ``Korea is the only country that still classifies persons and institutions in the old ideological terms,'' he said. ``I defy that kind of classification.'' Kwon started his career as a journalist and later became a labor union leader. After unsuccessfully running in the 2002 presidential election, he was elected as lawmaker in last month's general elections. He will step down from the party chairmanship before May 29 when the DLP holds a national convention to elect a new party leader. Korea Times 2004.5.8 |
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