President Moon calls for unprecedented measures to address COVID-19's economic fallout

문대통령 "메르스•사스 비교안되는 비상시국…전례없는 대책"

President Moon Jae-in held a rare emergency meeting with the nation's top financial and economic officials.
The South Korean leader called for unprecendented policy measures to tackle the situation.
Kim Min-ji has the highlights from that session.
President Moon Jae-in has called for unprecedented measures to stem the economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak,... saying the country is in the midst of an economic emergency.
He held a special meeting with the country's finance chief and central bank governor to discuss the impact of the outbreak on the economy and financial markets.
"President Moon said that officials should not limit their policies to what's been done before, and he called on them to do their best to draw up measures that are unprecedented."
Friday's meeting comes after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic -- which crashed the local and global stock markets alike.
It was also the first time for Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol to attend a session at the top office under President Moon -- likely reflecting how seriously the administration is taking the situation.
"President Moon said that although there is a tendency among economic policymakers to refer to past cases,... this is an economic emergency that cannot be compared to the MERS and SARS outbreaks."
During the 90-minute session, Moon also told officials to seek ways to enable South Korean business people to travel overseas by getting documents showing they've tested negative.
The president also said that the government needs to understand the difficulties of the people... and be determined to resolve them.
The country's economic and financial authorities agreed to monitor the situation,... to implement market stabilization policies if needed... and to take measures to support the economy.
The government has already rolled out a economic relief package worth over 16 billion U.S. dollars well as an extra budget proposal worth almost 10 billion dollars.
"Although the top office did not specify what "unprecedented" measures are being discussed,... the administration will likely reflect growing calls for more aggressive stimulus measures,... including a second supplementary budget. Kim Min-ji, Arirang News."

#COVID19 #economic #fallout