Han Deok-su, who emphasized economic recovery under the Yoon administration, says "I thought the country could collapse... Now I don't worry"

"Government Conditions Very Poor Just Before Early Typhoon Arrival"
"Yoon Administration Chooses Mid- to Long-Term Policies Over Short-Term Recovery"
Stable Finance, International Balance of Payments, Prices, and Employment

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo claimed on the 11th that the economic situation has significantly improved during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. Prime Minister Han stated, "At the beginning of the government, it was just before a typhoon hit," and introduced that the overall economic situation has changed by saying, "Now, I am not worried."

On the same day, during the economic sector question session at the National Assembly, Prime Minister Han explained that the economic situation has improved under the current administration. During a Q&A with Lee Jong-bae, a member of the People Power Party, he said, "(At the beginning of the administration) I thought the country might collapse if things continued like this," and explained, "The external conditions were unfavorable. Energy prices soared, which deepened the deficit." He continued, "As the external part of growth decreased, the economic growth rate fell, and to curb inflation, the U.S. base interest rate rose from 0.5% to 5.5%, and the Bank of Korea's base rate also increased from 1% to 3.5%. Due to the interest rate gap with the U.S., lack of export demand, rising energy prices, and high exchange rates, we faced a situation where we could not secure sufficient competitiveness in nuclear power and had no choice but to use expensive energy."

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is responding to a question from Lee Eon-ju, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, during the government-related economic inquiry held at the National Assembly on the 11th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Regarding the external environment, he also mentioned, "The alliance between Korea and the U.S. was strained, and Korea-Japan relations were at their worst." Concerning fiscal matters, he stated, "There were constant warnings worldwide about the increase in South Korea's government debt." Prime Minister Han reflected, "As fiscal conditions worsened, the international balance of payments deteriorated, and inflation rose, employment also faltered," adding, "Our overall domestic demand was also very poor. If things had slipped even a little, the country could have faced a tremendous crisis."

Deputy Prime Minister Han explained, "We were in a situation where we could print and use money at the Bank of Korea as much as we wanted, and if we could have freely used our finances without foreign warnings, the economic difficulties and hardships of small business owners would have been less." However, he added, "But we could not do that because we judged that simply recovering the economy in the short term was not enough to restore the country's mid- to long-term sustainability and competitiveness, so I asked the people to bear with patience." He continued, "Thanks to policies such as sound fiscal management, a surplus in the international balance of payments, inflation stabilization, and job creation, we are no longer worried."

Deputy Prime Minister Han said, "Now inflation is stabilized at around 2%, which is lower than abroad, foreign exchange reserves exceed liabilities, and the trade balance has turned to a surplus," adding, "Our employment rate is about 64%, and this year the current account surplus is expected to be between 73 billion and 77 billion dollars. We no longer worry about a foreign exchange crisis, although national debt has increased by about 2% over the past three years."