PRESIDENT MOON ON WAYS TO REVIVE ECONOMY

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In a meeting with the leaders of core industries, President Moon Jae-in stressed achieving grand social compromise by sharing the burden of economic hardship. He also said the eligibility of the government subsidy for key industries will be expanded to address corporate liquidity issues.

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​​President Moon Jae-in met with business leaders of nine key local industries. The South Korean leader emphasized, the current crisis is an important opportunity to achieve grand social compromise by facing economic difficulties together. In order to receive the government’s subsidy for key industries, companies must maintain at least 90% of their workforce for six months. Moon pointed out, extensive compromise is needed among labor, management, and civic groups to meet that condition. He explained that such broad compromise would help drive government’s assistance to the private sector.

[Soundbite] PRES. MOON JAE-IN : "We are in desperate need of cooperation between the government and the business world as well as among different industries, between conglomerates and SMEs, and between labor and management."

The government assessed the current economic and employment crisis has spread from the service industry to the manufacturing sector. Worldwide travel bans have dealt a big blow to the aviation and shipping industries. Auto makers and textile businesses are aso struggling due to falling demand from overseas markets. The government will, therefore, expand the recipient eligibility of 40-trillion-won stabilization subsidy for core industries. Aside from aviation and shipping companies, as indicated in the enforcement decree, other sectors that are greatly affected by the pandemic will qualify for the subsidy. Just like how Korea overcame the 1997 Asian financial crisis by promoting the IT industry and the 2008 global financial meltdown by nurturing the green industry, the President believes the nation can overcome this pandemic with the digital economy.

[Soundbite] PRES. MOON JAE-IN : "Korea will be the first nation to overcome this economic crisis. I hope you are strongly committed to leading the post-COVID-19 era."

There are also plans to train professionals and boost research capacity in new technical fields such as AI and big data analysis.