Prime Minister Jeong: "Avoid Excessive Retraction... Proceed with Scheduled Events" (Comprehensive 2)

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting for the response to the novel coronavirus infection, chaired by Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, is being held on the 12th at the Seoul Situation Center in the Central Disaster and Safety Situation Room of the Government Seoul Office Building. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporters Kwangho Lee and Sehee Jang] The government is raising its vigilance against the economic slowdown caused by avoidance behavior due to fear of the novel coronavirus infection (Wuhan pneumonia). The judgment is that excessive fear could paralyze ordinary daily life and further worsen the real economy.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun ordered to avoid excessive contraction on the 12th, following the previous day. At the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting held at the Seoul Situation Center of the Central Disaster and Safety Situation Room in the Government Seoul Office, Prime Minister Chung presided over the expanded response meeting for the novel coronavirus and stated, "We must conduct quarantine thoroughly but avoid excessive contraction."

Prime Minister Chung particularly emphasized, "It is not desirable to unconditionally cancel events hosted by the central government or local governments due to the novel coronavirus. I hope that thorough quarantine measures will be prepared and scheduled events will proceed as planned."

He also explained, "Closing a place for several days just because a confirmed patient visited is excessive from a public health perspective," adding, "Even for places visited by confirmed patients, disinfection is done, and it is the position of the quarantine countermeasures headquarters that operation can resume from the second day onward." He further added, "I hope the public trusts the government and continues their daily lives."

At the Cabinet meeting held on the 11th, Prime Minister Chung also said, "Recently, consumer sentiment has contracted due to the novel coronavirus, causing many difficulties in related industries such as food, lodging, and tourism," and requested, "Ministers should take the lead in stimulating consumption." After the Cabinet meeting, he surprised reporters by proposing a lunch gathering, where he shared a conversation and said, "While fighting the coronavirus, on the other hand, we will strive to prevent wrinkles from forming on our economy."

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki also expressed concern and vigilance. At the Economic Ministers' Meeting on Novel Coronavirus Response and Economic Vitality Measures, Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "Due to the novel coronavirus situation, inbound tourists have sharply decreased, and difficulties are occurring in travel, lodging, and dining industries, as well as consumption contraction in department stores and traditional markets, showing an overall economic activity slowdown," adding, "A significant part of this is due to excessive fear and anxiety." He continued, "The government is focusing all efforts on thorough preemptive quarantine, and confirmed patients are managed within the government quarantine network," urging, "Please overcome excessive fear and anxiety and engage in normal economic and consumption activities."

At the meeting, it was decided to provide 25 billion KRW in management stabilization funds at reduced interest rates to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) affected by the novel coronavirus, and 20 billion KRW to small business owners. These measures will be implemented starting the 13th. Additionally, 105 billion KRW for SMEs and 100 billion KRW for small business owners will be newly supplied under preferential guarantee conditions.

Furthermore, the progress of major investment activation projects was reviewed. Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "We will steadily promote the discovery of 100 trillion KRW investment in three major sectors?private, private investment, and public?outlined in this year's economic policy direction to restore investment sentiment early in the year," adding, "Currently, 10 trillion KRW out of 25 trillion KRW in private investment and 5.2 trillion KRW out of 15 trillion KRW in private investment projects are proceeding normally."

Meanwhile, regarding the January employment trends announced by Statistics Korea on the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Hong stated, "The number of employed persons in January increased by 568,000 compared to the same month last year," diagnosing, "Considering the recent expansion of the decrease in the working-age population, making employment growth difficult, this result is significant."

He explained, "Employment rates continued to rise in all age groups except for those in their 40s, and the decline in the employment rate for those in their 40s significantly slowed from 0.6% to 0.2 percentage points."

After the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Hong told reporters, "There are two things the government must do regarding employment issues: focus on those in their 40s and the manufacturing sector," adding, "Especially for those in their 40s, despite the population decrease, unlike those in their 30s, improvement has not been made, so we are preparing measures and plan to announce them next month."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.