Yun Hee-suk

South Korean politician

윤희숙
Member of the National AssemblyIn office
30 May 2020 – 13 September 2021Preceded byLee Hye-hoonSucceeded byCho Eun-heeConstituencySeocho A Personal detailsBorn (1970-02-07) 7 February 1970 (age 54)
Seoul, South KoreaCitizenshipSouth KoreanPolitical partyPeople PowerOther political
affiliationsUFP (2020)Alma materSeoul National University
Columbia UniversityOccupationEconomist, politicianSignatureKorean nameHangul
윤희숙
Hanja
尹喜淑
Revised RomanizationYun Hui-sukMcCune–ReischauerYun Hŭi-suk

Yun Hee-suk (Korean: 윤희숙, born 7 February 1970) is a South Korean economist and politician. She was the Member of the National Assembly for Seocho A constituency from 2020 to 2021.

Education

She holds a bachelor's and a master's degree in economics from Seoul National University.[1][2][3] She had also obtained a doctorate in economics at Columbia University.[1][2][3]

Career

Prior to entering politics, Yun worked as a researcher and a professor at the Korea Development Institute (KDI), specialising labour, finance, income, welfare and middle class issues.[4] Within the KDI, she also served as the Head of Department of Finance and Welfare Policy Research.[4] She was also one of few women promoted from doctor to department head at the KDI.[4] During this period, she harshly criticised the economic policy of the President Moon Jae-in.[1][2][3]

Prior to the 2020 election, Yun was brought into the newly-formed conservative United Future Party (UFP).[1][2][3] She was then selected the UFP candidate for Seocho A constituency,[1][5] replacing the incumbent Lee Hye-hoon who had moved to Dongdaemun 2nd constituency. In the election on 15 April, she received 62.60%, defeating the ruling Democratic candidate Lee Jung-keun.[1][3]

On 30 July, she delivered a speech at the National Assembly Proceeding Hall, known as "I'm a lessee."[6][7] During the speech, she criticised the ruling Democratic Party for the newly-passed 3 Rental Acts.[6][7] This speech was praised by another UFP MPs i.e. Hwangbo Seung-hee and Park Soo-young.[7] On 6 August, Realmeter analysed that the speech helped the UFP to gain more supports.[8]

She was widely considered a potential candidate for the 2021 leadership election.[9]

Political positions

Economy

Yun is economically liberal.[1] She is harshly critical towards the President Moon Jae-in, accusing his economic policy as "populism" since a researcher of the KDI.[1][2][3] This gave her a nickname "Populism Fighter (포퓰리즘 파이터)".[1][2][3][10]

The main policies that she is criticising are minimum wage increase, 52-hour workweek and real estate policies.[5][10] As an example, for the minimum wage, she cited that while Japan had increased 3% per year during a decade, South Korea has increased 30% within 2 years, in which she mentioned that labour forces like part-time and/or temporary workers will be damaged.[11] She also accused that Moon's economic policy will lead the country to be like Venezuela or Argentina.[11]

She has a sceptical view towards Keynesian economic policies adopted by the President Moon, mentioning that the policy is actually "impossible and nonsense".[11] She also added that South Korea needs a leadership like Margaret Thatcher.[10][11]

Education

During a parliamentary speech on 30 July 2020, Yun criticised the education policy of Moon's government.[12][13] She cited an example of her elder sister who had already given up for mathematics during her school life.[12][13] She believes that this kind of problem was occurred due to the standardised education system.[12][13] In order to overcome this issue, she had suggested an idea, which is that an artificial intelligence (AI) provides exercises that are suitable for each student.[12][13] In fact, this idea was once applied at the Introduction to Probability and Statistics subject at the KDI and no one failed at the subject.[13]

She also analysed that the current South Korean education system has failed to innovate due to high restrictions towards e-learning and strong objections from teachers and lecturers.[12][13]

Works

  • The Betrayal of Policies (2020)

Election results

General elections

Year Constituency Political party Votes (%) Remarks
2020 Seocho A UFP 72,896 (62.60%) Won

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i ""저는 임차인입니다", 부동산 전문 학자 출신 윤희숙 국회의원". 5 August 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "윤희숙, '5분 연설' 직전 김종인 독대했다". 3 August 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "윤희숙". Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  4. ^ a b c ""저는 임차인" 윤희숙 의원은 누구?…KDI시절 어땠나". 3 August 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  5. ^ a b ""여의도 가서 포퓰리즘 경제정책 막겠다"". 13 March 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  6. ^ a b ""저는 임차인입니다" 통합당 윤희숙 '5분 연설' 화제". 31 July 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  7. ^ a b c "[영상] 윤희숙의 5분 '사이다 경제학'…"무슨 배짱과 오만으로"". 31 July 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  8. ^ "윤희숙·윤석열이 통합당 웃게했다…민주당 지지율차 0.8%P뿐". 6 August 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  9. ^ "나경원, 국민의힘 당대표 출마 굳혀..캠프 꾸렸다". 16 May 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  10. ^ a b c "윤희숙 "여의도에서 포퓰리즘 경제정책 잡는다"". 13 March 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  11. ^ a b c d "文 정권의 경제 폭정 막을 포퓰리즘 파이터". May 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  12. ^ a b c d e "윤희숙 "언니는 수포자"…이번엔 文정부 교육정책 저격". 8 August 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  13. ^ a b c d e f "'임차인' 윤희숙 의원이 꺼낸 '수포자' 친언니". 9 August 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.

External links