Korean Government to Launch Emergency Economic Committee
The government will from Tuesday (Jan. 6) operate an emergency economic committee composed of ranking economic officials, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said Monday (Jan. 5).
The announcement came three days after President Lee's New Year's message, through which he said that the Korean economy will run in an emergency mode in 2009. Lee pledged on Jan. 2 to approve more than 20 trillion won support for banks and take all measures to help them lend money to enterprises and households.
The emergency committee will be composed of the Minister of Strategy and Finance, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, Governor of the Bank of Korea and ranking economic officials from Cheong Wa Dae, the spokesman said.
The committee will convene once a week, but additional sessions will be held if and when deemed necessary. The weekly meetings will commence Tuesday (Jan. 6) after the committee member lineup is finalized on Monday (Jan. 5), according to the spokesman.
The emergency committee will tackle such major issues as job creation, enhanced support for SMEs, financial restructuring and the reinforcement of the social safety net. It will also run a vice-ministerial level working committee presided over by Park Byung-won, a senior presidential aide on economic affairs. The working committee will carve out agendas which will be discussed by the emergency committee and coordinate differing opinions among relevant ministries.
In emergency mode, Cheong Wa Dae will also designate supervisors for different economic projects not only at each ministry but also at state-owned organizations.
Former President Kim Dae-jung also presided over 12 emergency economic meetings from March 1998 to April 1999 to recover from the foreign currency crisis, the spokesman explained.