Just 100 days after his inauguration, President Moon Jae-in and his aides may still feel euphoria, with approval ratings hovering over 80 percent and strong public support for his policies.

Statistics might make them believe everything is on the right track but experts warn that South Korea faces a "paradox of reform" as Moon's policies are destined to constrain future economic growth.

Many of his new measures aimed at fixing ongoing problems, ironically, go against key values that ensure future economic success, namely competition, productivity, and innovation.

Simply speaking the new programs are short-sighted and based on yesterday's logic. They are not designed to brace the global trends that will shape the evolution of the economy over the coming decades.

▲Moon's Pledges

In other words, Moon's policies could help produce more jobs and bolster the economy in the short term. However, in the long term, they will be a heavy social burden and become a major stumbling block to Korea achieving sustainable growth.

"The government is counting on economic growth to pay for a substantial portion of Moon's new economic and social programs,” said Sohn Sung-won, a professor of economics at California State University, speaking to The Korea Times.

Describing Moon's approach as "too optimistic", he forecast budget deficits to go up for the foreseeable future.

"It could hurt economic growth in the long run well after President Moon's term ends, he said "A new approach to boost economic growth in the long run is needed.".

This concern comes as Moon, since his inauguration, wasted no time in fulfilling his campaign promises aimed at redistributing wealth and supporting low-income families.

The problem is many of his policies, viewed as populist, require a huge amount of taxpayers' money but lack a detailed financing plan.

Among them are a job creation plan for the public sector, a nuclear-free energy policy with a promise not to raise electricity fees for five years, an increase in the basic pension for all senior citizens, and a sharp hike in the minimum wage.

The latest one is his promise to boost public health insurance coverage. Under Moon's plan, the increased coverage will cut individual medical expenses by 18 percent over five years and by 46 percent for low-income households.

Also, Moon has called the leaders of many countries to discuss important international questions.

And then, he directed songs to be sung for the abolition of state textbooks at a 5.18 pro-democracy movement celebration.

When North Korea was warmongering, he responded faster than anyone else. So, he made people relax.

Last month, president Moon visited Seoul's elementary schools and installed measuring instruments for fine dust at schools countrywide.

It seems Korea’s future will be bright with Mun as president.