Yoon: "Rising interest rates increase debtor hardship... Will create appropriate credit policies"

President Yoon: "Government Doing Its Best... It's Also Important for Public Consumption and Corporate Investment to Proceed Normally"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] President Yoon Suk-yeol stated on the 13th, "With the interest rate hikes, the financial burdens on mortgage debtors, households, and businesses have increased," adding, "The government will create and manage appropriate credit policies to ensure that these individuals do not become insolvent or go bankrupt."

President Yoon made these remarks during a door-stepping (brief Q&A on the way to work) at the Yongsan Presidential Office, noting that the Bank of Korea's Monetary Policy Committee raised the base interest rate by 0.5 percentage points to 3.0% (a big step) following the Federal Reserve's consecutive rate hikes.

He emphasized, "It is true that many citizens and businesspeople are concerned about financial market volatility and real economic uncertainty," adding, "A crisis should neither be exaggerated nor neglected."

He also highlighted that the government is continuously monitoring the economic situation. President Yoon explained, "It is always necessary to appropriately understand and manage the situation, and the government is doing its best to firmly manage the real economy and to ensure that our foreign exchange reserves are not unnecessarily spent."

He continued, "Last week's economic ministers' meeting was held in that context, and going forward, I plan to frequently hold such real economy strategy review meetings personally as president."

He urged, "Citizens should not be too discouraged by the atmosphere of crisis but should continue necessary spending, consumption, and corporate investment activities normally."

Regarding a question about the timing of moving into the Hannam-dong official residence, he responded, "Isn't that an unimportant matter?" and added, "It seems that all safety measures are in place, so I should prepare to move, but I have been very busy..."

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