Lee Nak-yeon, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the high-level party-government meeting held at the National Assembly on the 20th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@
[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] The Democratic Party of Korea, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Blue House held a high-level party-government-office meeting on the 20th to discuss measures to stabilize livelihoods during the Lunar New Year holiday.
The party, government, and office gathered opinions on agenda items including quarantine measures for holiday homecomings, execution of disaster relief funds, gift-sending campaigns, and price stabilization of agricultural and marine products during the holiday.
Lee Nak-yeon, leader of the Democratic Party, said in his opening remarks, “We aim to advance the disbursement of disaster relief funds, which were originally planned to be paid from the Lunar New Year, to before the holiday,” adding, “However, it may not be sufficient. There may be people left in blind spots, and it will be difficult to cover them all with fiscal resources.”
Lee also expressed hope that “the gift-sending campaign conducted during Chuseok will spread again this time, bringing warmth to local small businesses,” while emphasizing, “It is very important to block the spread of COVID-19 and avian influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday.”
Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader of the Democratic Party, also expressed concerns about quarantine issues arising from holiday homecomings. Kim said, “The Lunar New Year holiday, when nationwide mass movement is expected, is the last hurdle to stabilizing the third wave of COVID-19,” and added, “We must thoroughly prepare quarantine measures for the Lunar New Year until vaccination is fully underway.”
He also stressed the need to prevent overwork of delivery workers due to increased parcel volumes during the holiday. He said, “I hope many citizens will participate in the ‘It’s okay to be late’ campaign to prevent overwork of delivery workers,” and added, “If parcels are sent before the 22nd, volume can be dispersed.”
Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, said, “The government has prepared measures with an urgent mindset to provide a stepping stone for livelihood stabilization and a pillar for economic recovery to the people exhausted by COVID-19.” Hong said the measures focus on four key areas: ▲ prioritizing quarantine-friendly public safety responses ▲ supporting livelihood stabilization for ordinary citizens during the Lunar New Year, including emergency relief funds ▲ early payment of earned income tax credits before the holiday to boost economic recovery and household income base ▲ and job and financial package support.
As detailed measures, he announced plans to provide briquette coupons for vulnerable groups and support job and financial packages. The plan also includes setting up 620 screening clinics during the Lunar New Year holiday for quarantine purposes. He emphasized that the government will execute advance purchase agreements for key seasonal products with public institutions to prepare for holiday price fluctuations.
Hong also added, “Considering the difficult working conditions in January and February, we will ensure that more than 700,000 out of 1.04 million direct jobs can be filled, and more than 24,000 social service jobs will be created in the first quarter.”
The measures gathered at this meeting will undergo further discussion at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting before the final announcement.
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