PRESIDENT MOON PREPARES FOR POST COVID-19 ERA

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President Moon Jae-in has vowed all out efforts in state governance in the post-COVID-19 era, a task he mentioned during his recent speech marking his third year in office. He urged for speedy, bold and thorough execution of policy measures and particularly stressed accelerated efforts on deregulation.

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​The Cabinet held its first meeting since President Moon Jae-in's special address delivered to mark his third year in office. Moon called for swift execution of state goals in the post-COVID-19 era and especially made note of three guidelines. He said the implementation must be timely, bold and thorough. First, he said the country's health and quarantine systems must be swiftly strengthened to prepare against a possible second wave of infections.

[Soundbite] PRES. MOON JAE-IN : "The sooner the status of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(KCDC) is elevated the better. Please consider it a top legislative priority in parliament."

Regarding the so-called Korean New Deal initiative, Moon underlined bold action. He said it is not a repackaging of existing projects, but a laying of the foundation to build Korea into a digital powerhouse through infrastructure projects such as database compilation. The president also vowed to extend the operation of the government task force on regulatory reform by 2 more years and called for swift efforts on deregulation.

[Soundbite] PRES. MOON JAE-IN : "We must eliminate any hurdles to Korea becoming a pace-setting economy."

Moon also emphasized the need to broaden the employment insurance system to cover all citizens, and urged mid to long term preparations in phases with clear directions. He said to realize universal employment insurance coverage, there are preceding tasks to tackle and mentioned social consensus, funding and getting a grasp of income levels of self-employed earners.