President Moon and Prime Minister Chung Weekly Meeting... "Preparing for Early Payment of Emergency Disaster Relief Fund"

President Moon Jae-in (right) and Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] On the 27th, President Moon Jae-in emphasized the early preparation for the emergency disaster relief fund payment and proactive inspection and management of blind spots in quarantine measures during his weekly meeting with Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Prime Minister's Office, President Moon and Prime Minister Chung held their weekly meeting at the Blue House on the same day to comprehensively review the COVID-19 quarantine situation and discuss key issues such as preparations for social distancing in daily life and the reopening of schools.

They also exchanged views on recent economic trends and the progress of major measures to overcome the crisis, including the handling of the supplementary budget bill for the emergency disaster relief fund payment and other issues for the April extraordinary session of the National Assembly.

First, Prime Minister Chung reported to the President on the domestic and international situation of COVID-19, including ▲ the status of social distancing implementation and preparations for daily quarantine, ▲ the situation regarding school reopening, ▲ mask supply, and ▲ plans to promote international standardization of the 'K-quarantine' model.

In response, President Moon said, "It is very encouraging that, thanks to the voluntary cooperation of the people and the efforts of the government and local governments, the number of new confirmed cases has remained around 10 per day for nine consecutive days since the 19th," adding, "Please do not relax vigilance and continue to manage the situation steadily while carefully preparing for a smooth transition to daily quarantine."

He also stated, "Looking at recent overseas cases, special management is needed for vulnerable areas such as illegal immigrant-dense regions with low medical accessibility, homeless populations, and jjokbangchon (small room villages). In densely populated and frequently mobile areas like the metropolitan area, a joint quarantine system involving local governments is necessary," urging, "The government should pay more attention and devise separate measures."

President Moon and Prime Minister Chung agreed that after a thorough assessment of the current situation, it is necessary to review and prepare in advance for the implementation of social distancing in daily life and, in connection with this, also prepare for the reopening of schools.

Prime Minister Chung said, "Since various opinions exist among quarantine authorities, the education sector, and parents regarding the timing and method of school reopening, we will broadly collect opinions and build national consensus during the preparation process and decide in early May."

In response, President Moon ordered, "In preparation for school reopening, the Ministry of Education and local governments should meticulously check and prepare for items that individual schools need to address, such as securing quarantine supplies and measures to take in case of confirmed cases."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Chung also discussed with President Moon the early payment of the emergency disaster relief fund, export trends, ongoing projects, and support for small business owners as part of the government's measures to overcome the economic crisis.

First, they agreed to actively support the review by standing committees and the Budget and Accounts Committee at the government level to ensure the supplementary budget bill passes the National Assembly within April, and to thoroughly prepare in advance to enable the prompt payment of the emergency disaster relief fund to the public as soon as the supplementary budget is approved.

They also agreed to closely monitor the progress of the government's announced economic crisis response measures centered on the 'Economic Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters,' which will hold its first meeting on the 29th, and to continuously identify areas requiring additional measures.

Furthermore, they decided to strive for international standardization by concretizing the globally recognized 'K-quarantine model' into 18 specific types according to the stages of infectious disease response and proposing them to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

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