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President Lee Myung-bak on Sunday said that the government in cooperation with the National Assembly would use excess tax revenues from 2007 to help boost domestic business. Lee was speaking in a press conference at Cheong Wa Dae, ahead of his upcoming official trips to the U.S. and Japan.
"No matter how deep the economic slowdown, we shouldn't let domestic business contract further than other economic activities. I expect each government agency to come up with measures to galvanize the economy before domestic business contracts further," Lee said. His remarks show that the government is prepared to take measures to boost the economy by using a supplementary budget to prevent domestic business from weakening any further.
Lee said the government is working out a plan to put the Korea Development Bank in private hands within three years, depending on the market environment. He said it is necessary to foster a financial industry with which South Korea can compete with other countries, as its financial scale is currently too small.
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President Lee Myung-bak leaves after a press conference at Cheong Wa Dae on Sunday. Lee is renewing his call on North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons programs and says Seoul is ready for talks with Pyongyang./AP
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The president also repeated his determination to reform public corporations and agencies. "The public sector should be the first to change," he said. "The government will deal more harshly with public servants involved in corruption by levying more severe penalties on those involved."
Turning to the North Korean nuclear issue, Lee said North Korea's strategy of bypassing South Korea for direct contacts with the U.S. will not be successful. "We'll find solutions to North Korean issues, including denuclearization, by cooperating more closely with the U.S. (than former governments did) based on our traditional alliance," Lee said.
The president said inter-Korean relations are going through a "readjustment" period in which the decade-old framework of dialogue is being replaced. "From this standpoint, the government is coping with recent provocations by the North in a dignified manner. North Korea should change, too. The government is ready for dialogue with the North at any time," Lee said.
Regarding the outcome of South Korea's April 9 general elections, Lee said the election results were "a stern order from the voters that the government should concentrate on reviving the economy and boosting people's livelihood by practicing politics of unity and compromise."
As to whether the supporters of Park Geun-hye who won in the elections should be reinstated into the Grand National Party, Lee said, "The ruling party should take responsibility for resolving complicated political issues. There may exist a pro-Park alliance, but there is no pro-Lee Myung-bak faction within the party. All party factions, if any, should stop arguing in order to revive the economy."
Lee also stressed that the clock is running out on the pending U.S-Korea free trade agreement. "We have to move quickly to ratify the FTA deal with the U.S. in order to put pressure on the U.S. Congress to make a similar move," Lee said. He promised that the government would perfect measures to assure that Korean farmers would not be hurt by the deal.
Lee said he hoped that the National Assembly would hold an extra session in May to ease regulations on businesses and financial matters. "The government is taking very quick (deregulation) measures for the service industry, including finance, tourism and medical care," he said.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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