President Moon: "The people's will in the general election is to unite for 'overcoming national crisis'... Opposition parties must also cooperate"

President Moon Jae-in is presiding over a senior secretaries and aides meeting at the Blue House on the afternoon of the 20th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] President Moon Jae-in said on the 20th, "We must protect the lives of the people and revive the economy before moving on to the next step," adding, "I believe the will of the people in this general election is also to unite our efforts to overcome the national crisis." This is the first time President Moon has directly explained the significance of the ruling party's landslide victory in the April 15 general election.

On the same day, President Moon presided over a senior secretaries and aides meeting at the Blue House and stated in his opening remarks, "First and foremost, overcoming the national crisis," emphasizing this point. He urged the political circles, saying, "I hope the ruling party, together with the government, will fully take responsibility and focus all capabilities on overcoming the national crisis, heeding the solemn command of the people." He also requested, "The last duty of the 20th National Assembly, which has little time left, and the mindset for preparing the 21st National Assembly should be to unite efforts to overcome the national crisis."

In particular, he said, "I ask the opposition parties to compete with wisdom and capability while cooperating together to overcome the national crisis," and added, "The government will always listen to the opinions of the opposition parties."

President Moon compared the COVID-19 pandemic to a "world war," stating, "The human casualties and socio-economic damages caused by the global spread of COVID-19 are so severe and harsh that it can be called the Third World War." He continued, "More than 160,000 deaths have already occurred, with precious lives lost in countries around the world, and the global economy is plunging into the worst recession since the Great Depression."

He emphasized, "We are at the forefront of this war. We will definitely win and create hope." President Moon said, "Our quarantine measures, based on transparency, openness, and democracy, are becoming the global standard, and the daily new confirmed cases have dropped to single digits, clearly entering a stabilization phase," but he also noted, "Considering the global situation, it is still too early to be complacent. We will maintain our quarantine stance until we judge that the virus is sufficiently controlled."

Regarding the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis, President Moon expressed concern, saying, "As the economic crisis intensifies, negative growth is expected this year, and the employment shock is becoming a reality, putting many citizens at risk of losing their jobs."

However, he added, "Just as we have done in quarantine through solidarity and cooperation, if we unite our strength in the economy as well, we can minimize damage and become the country that overcomes the crisis the fastest." He pledged, "We will connect the achievements in quarantine to the economy and accelerate the time for economic recovery through proactive and bold policies."

In this regard, President Moon instructed, "Strengthen the government's emergency economic response system, with the Deputy Prime Minister for Economy at the center, and prepare for the full-scale operation of the Economic Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters involving all economic ministries." He further directed, "Until the economic crisis ends, promptly establish a crisis management system that consolidates all government capabilities for crisis management, job protection, and corporate relief." President Moon has personally presided over the 'Emergency Economic Meeting,' which functions like an economic central disaster headquarters, but this indicates that it will be reorganized under Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki going forward.

President Moon stated, "The government will not remain stuck in past solutions in its economic crisis response measures," and pledged, "Following K-Quarantine, K-Economy will also become the global standard for overcoming the crisis."

Meanwhile, regarding the emergency disaster relief fund, which the ruling party, government, and Blue House had decided to provide different amounts ranging from 400,000 to 1,000,000 won per household member for the bottom 70% income households, but which is being reconsidered amid the general election phase, Kang Ki-jung, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs at the Blue House, told reporters on the same day, "The government's position is that it cannot submit a revised plan now," adding, "(Based on the existing decision) we sent the bill to the National Assembly based on the bottom 70%, and now it is a matter for the National Assembly to discuss."

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