(SEJONG = Newsis) The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), one of the world’s most prestigious economic newspapers, advised that it is time for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to stop denigrating Korea’s open-door policy and learn from the country’s example.

In a February 14 article, the newspaper said that it was not surprising to see the Bank of Korea’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged, and there may be a lesson for the Japanese prime minister.

It said that Korea was able to maintain its strong economic fundamentals even as the country’s currency “appreciated by 9 percent against the dollar in early 2012,” and this contrasts with Abe’s agenda for the Japanese economy – that the weak yen phenomenon is a critical factor for export competitiveness.

“Among other factors, Korean companies have competed globally by improving the quality of their products. Note that Apple’mong other factors, Korean companies hSamsung, not a Japanese company,” said the WSJ.

The WSJ also highly praised Korea’s open-door policy. It said that the Korea-EU and KORUS free trade agreements are in effect and that they further opened up the country’s domestic market and boosted investment in industries, some of which are a third less productive as those of developed nations.

The newspaper pointed out that even though Abe did see some progress in the trade sector by signing Japan up for the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP), his economic reform plan still consists of a number of old-fashioned fiscal stimulus policies such as a weak yen policy.

lst0121@newsis.com

Source Text

Source: Newsis (Feb. 14, 2014)

** This article was translated from the Korean.