'9th Emergency Economic Central Countermeasures Headquarters Meeting'
Deputy Prime Minister Hong: "Japan Must Show Genuine Attitude on Export Controls"
[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, announced on the 2nd that "we will establish the 'National Bio Data Station,' a platform that integrates, collects, and provides bio research data scattered across ministries, projects, and researchers, by next year."
At the 9th Emergency Economic Central Countermeasures Headquarters meeting held at the Government Seoul Office on the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Hong stated, "We will restructure 274 material resource banks to create material clusters in 14 fields such as stem cells, brain, and microorganisms."
He added, "Through this measure, we will establish a self-reliant foundation for essential resources needed for bio research such as vaccine and new drug development, enabling rapid response to new and mutated infectious diseases like COVID-19 and advancing the level of bio research and development (R&D) in the future."
Additionally, the government plans to consider extending financial measures that were temporarily supported in response to COVID-19.
Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "We will proactively review the extension and normalization plans of temporary support measures introduced to respond to COVID-19." The government is reviewing whether to extend the temporary loan maturity extensions and interest repayment deferrals for small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners, which were introduced until the end of September. It will also review normalization plans for regulations temporarily eased, such as the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) for banks and the net capital ratio (NCR) for securities firms.
Deputy Prime Minister Hong urged Japan, saying, "We urge the Japanese government to show a sincere attitude and a progressive stance toward withdrawing export restrictions and resolving the issue."
He also expressed confidence that the strategy for the materials, parts, and equipment industry has yielded results. He emphasized, "As a result of the joint efforts of the public and private sectors over the past year, we have overcome regulations without production disruptions," and added, "We are intensively promoting competitiveness enhancement measures, even creating a special account for materials, parts, and equipment."
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