Hong Nam-ki "New Deal Bill to Pass in February National Assembly"... Accelerating Economic Stimulus in First Half of This Year

Kim Yong-beom, 1st Vice Minister: "Focus on Hiring Jobs Utilizing Non-Face-to-Face and Remote Work Transition in Q1"

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy and Finance [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporters Son Seon-hee and Jang Se-hee] The government has decided to process about 20 New Deal-related bills, including the Data Basic Act, at the February extraordinary session of the National Assembly to improve the structure of the Korean economy. They intend to accelerate the pace of promotion to lay the foundation for growth. In addition, considering the difficult economic situation following the COVID-19 pandemic, they plan to hire 80% of the direct jobs scheduled for this year in the first quarter.

On the 22nd, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and related ministries held a meeting of related ministers (Green Room Meeting) at the Government Seoul Office, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki, to review the progress of the 10 major legislative tasks of the Korean New Deal and reached this consensus. Attendees included Minister of Science and ICT Choi Ki-young, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sung Yun-mo, Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination Koo Yoon-chul, Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups Kang Sung-chun, and Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs to the President Lee Ho-seung.

At the meeting, the attendees agreed to actively cooperate with the National Assembly to ensure that about 20 bills, including the Data Basic Act and the Carbon Neutrality Implementation Act, are prioritized for legislation in the February session.

These bills are considered core to promoting the ‘Data Dam’ and Green New Deal projects, which are key tasks of the Korean New Deal. With the establishment of legal grounds through the Data Basic Act for producing, collecting, processing, and systematically managing data, it is expected that the convergence and utilization of 5G and artificial intelligence (AI) will become more active. The attendees also plan to speed up the passage of the Carbon Neutrality Implementation Act to execute the 2050 carbon neutrality goal.

First Vice Minister of Economy and Finance Kim Yong-beom also chaired the ‘3rd Innovation Growth Strategy Review Meeting and Korean New Deal Review Meeting’ on the same day, checking the progress of economic revitalization measures and repeatedly emphasizing ‘swift promotion.’ In his opening remarks, Vice Minister Kim said, "We will actively utilize non-face-to-face (untact) and telecommuting transitions to intensively start recruitment activities in the first quarter," and urged, "Related ministries should carefully monitor the execution status to prevent delays in projects caused by COVID-19." The government plans to create 1.04 million direct jobs this year to prepare for employment shocks, with 80% of them to be hired intensively in the first quarter.

Vice Minister Kim also stated, "Public institutions will newly hire more than 26,000 people, an increase of 1,000 compared to the previous year, and plan to hire more than 45% in the first half of the year," adding, "New hires in local public enterprises will be maximized through management evaluation reflection, providing quality jobs to young people whose job search has been prolonged." He continued, "We will strive to create even a single new job through the swift promotion of not only central government projects but also local government job projects."

Additionally, a total of 28 billion KRW will be supported over the next four years for the ‘Doctor Answer 2.0’ project, a smart medical infrastructure construction project. The target diseases for precision medical services using AI will be expanded to 12 diseases, including lung cancer, liver disease, and skin diseases.

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