Rep. Kim Gwang-lim of the ruling Saenuri Party.

Rep. Kim Gwang-lim of the ruling Saenuri Party blasted Gov. Kim Choong-soo of the Bank of Korea for cutting the key interest rate despite his strong emphasis that the central bank will freeze it just prior to the start of the audit of the central bank, resulting in confusion to the financial market, although the media took him at his word and reported that the interest rate will be unchanged for a long time. 

The legislator from Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, and a former bureaucrat who served as the vice minister of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, made the statement during the audit of the central bank as a member of the National Assembly Strategy and Finance Committee on Oct. 5. Rep. Kim also demanded that the central bank unveil the extent of the losses incurred from the recent fall of global gold prices in which the central bank invested 5 trillion won. He also asked for the central bank to expand its disclosure of the number of records on its foreign exchange asset management and also make public the records of the Monetary Committee meetings for approval of the central bank budgets.

The accusations came at a time when Central Bank Gov. Kim is being blamed for his lack of ample communication with the financial market on monetary policies. The legislator said since his inauguration as the head of the central bank on April 1, 2010, he has been stressing communication with the financial market and went as far as to set up a bureau in charge of public relations in order to keep his word. But the central bank has been the object of criticism by monetary policy experts for its lack of communication, which they said has been one of its biggest problems.

What also emerged was the issue of the central bank printing memorial coins to commemorate national occasions not in a conservative style, but to be more positive and give the special money issuance proposal rights to the heads of central administrative organizations and the metropolitan administration heads at the same time and give the central bank governor the power to decide on the proposals in three months.

Rep. Kim said the central bank had some of the commemorative coins minted in foreign countries, although it is empowered to print them according to the Bank of Korea Law Article 3. The memorial coins for Dokdo were minted in Uganda; the memorial coins for the late Cardinal Kim Soo-hwan were made in Liberia; the coins to commemorate figure skating champion Kim Yun-a were made in Tuvalu; and the coins to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War were minted in Niwuwe, to name some of the places where the central bank outsourced its production of the special coins.

The legislator also remarked that the number of commemorative coins minted in Korea is far below those of other countries, including China, which minted special coins 10 times last year, Japan 12 times, Australia 50 times, France 60 times, and Canada 100 times. The central bank has not minted a special coin to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Korean War, despite the fact that both presidents of Korea and U.S. attended the commemorative ceremonies in their respective countries and gave a special speech, and Australia and Canada, participants in the war as allies, printed commemorative coins to honor the occasion. Korea has no commemorative coins to honor the end of the dreadful war on the Korean Peninsula, he said.

Rep. Kim said the heads of central administrative organizations and heads of metropolitan municipalities should be given the rights to make proposals to mint special commemorative coins to build the national prestige of Korea and the central bank governor should respond to the proposals within three months. He proposed the minting of special coins for Hahoe and Yangdong Villages, which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List, to expand the minting of special coins and allow the sale of the commemorative coins at nearby tourist guide offices.

Rep. Kim also demanded the establishment of a central bank regional office in North Gyeongsang Province, referring to the recent relocation of the North Gyeongsang Province office, as well as citing examples of central banks in advanced nations for the need to analyze economies around the country.