Meeting with Foreign Correspondents on Korea’s Pandemic Response
Government Responds According to Six Policy Pledges
Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki discussed the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic at the meeting with foreign correspondents held on March 20. DPM Hong talked about government’s six pledges in its disease control efforts, and here is a summary of DPM Hong’s keynote address.
The government has been working for a “preemptive, prompt and precise” response to the pandemic, keeping the following six pledges in mind.
1) Balance between infection prevention and economic activities
- Work on infection prevention without limiting mobility and business practices
- Work on effective screening of potential carriers without imposing entry bans
- As many economic activities as possible have been taken part in as a result
2) Public-private cooperation
- Rent cuts voluntarily offered to commercial tenants
- Small business support packages offered by the government, which covers from rent and wage supports to tax breaks and emergency funding
- Government and manufacturers working together for the stable supply of masks
3) Multilayered safety nets to avoid anybody being left out
- Special support for hard-hit areas, including Daegu City and North Gyeongsang province
- Supports tailored to airliners, travel agencies and leisure businesses, including tax, customs and financial supports, to help maintain businesses and employment
- Working class support, including home quarantine support, childcare support while schools are closed, vouchers and emergency assistance programs
4) Prompt response: A total of 32 trillion won of support programs launched
- A total of 4 trillion won worth of spending so far since early February on disease prevention and emergency business support
- A comprehensive package of tax and financial support worth 16 trillion won to be implemented soon with the supplementary budget passed at the National Assembly
- The presidential meeting on economic emergency held weekly since the middle of March when the disease became a pandemic
- An over 50 trillion won worth of package to support the financial market announced at the presidential meeting, which, along with the Korea-US currency swap line worth US $60 billion, is expected to ensure market safety
5) Work for a leap forward after the pandemic
- Make post-pandemic economic boosting plans ready, such as sales events, auto sales tax cuts and various kinds of vouchers
- Continue with investment boosting projects, including the launch of 100 trillion won worth of projects this year, and work on regulatory innovation, new growth engine development and reshoring
- Prepared for post-pandemic global supply chains
6) Proposals for G20 policy cooperation
With the G7 cooperation pledge presented in its joint statement, there should be close cooperation among G20 members. Korea has proposed four action plans as we sent them to the G20 chair country and the US secretary of the treasury last week. Korea is willing to share with other countries our disease prevention models and emergency economic support.
Please refer to the attached pdf
