GOVT TO REVIEW DESIGNATING TEMPORARY HOLIDAY

[Anchor Lead]

August 17th may be a temporary holiday for Koreans. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun asked relevant ministries to examine a plan to designate a temporary holiday to give some downtime to ordinary Koreans and medical professionals as well as to continue the recovery of local demand.

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​The nation's Prime Minister instructed relevant ministries to review a plan to designate Monday, August 17th, as a temporary holiday. Chung Sye-kyun explained it would help relieve people's fatigue from the prolonged pandemic and boost the sluggish economy.

[Soundbite] CHUNG SYE-KYUN(PRIME MINISTER) : "We want to give a downtime to exhausted people and medical professionals and support continued recovery of domestic demand."

Holidays are fewer this year, as some, including Memorial Day and Independence Day overlaps with weekends. This year's Independence Day, August 15th, falls on a Saturday. But when the 17th is designated as a temporary holiday, Koreans will be able to enjoy a three-day weekend. Back in 2015, August 14th was designated as a temporary holiday to help the local economy recover during the MERS outbreak. In the following year, May 6th was made a temporary holiday to stretch the holiday weekend to four days from Children's Day on May 5th. The designation of August 17th as a holiday is expected to encourage local spending since overseas travel is impossible this year. A decision on the matter is usually made after a cabinet meeting and a presidential approval. But this time, judging by the PM's public remarks on the subject, it seems certain the day will be designated a temporary holiday. Chung also mentioned some facilities like public libraries and art museums would be reopened. He asked those public facilities to strictly follow disease prevention measures such as limiting capacity and using electronic log-in systems so that other sectors can resume operation as well.