Choi Sang-mok: "Manage Household Loans with Caution and Stability"

Increase in Household Loans Centered on Mortgage Loans
Measures to Revitalize Investment and Support Small Business Owners
New Evaluation Criteria Established to Alleviate Noise Between Floors

Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Strategy and Finance, said on the 12th, "Since June, the increase in housing transactions has been reflected with a time lag, and household loans, mainly housing mortgage loans, are showing an increasing trend," adding, "We will manage household debt more stably with vigilance."

Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Economy and Finance, is speaking on the 12th at the Economic Ministers' Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno, Seoul, regarding current issues such as measures to strengthen the pan-government promotion system for investment activation. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

On the same day, Choi Sang-mok presided over the Economic Ministers' Meeting at the Government Seoul Office, discussing measures to strengthen the pan-government promotion system for revitalizing investment, rapid promotion plans for the third project of the 'Regional Revitalization Investment Fund,' plans to create industrial complexes incorporating culture, improvements in convenience services, comprehensive measures for small business owners and self-employed, and the progress of response plans for the 'Wemakeprice (WEMAKEPRICE) and TMON incidents.'

Deputy Prime Minister Choi said, "Recently, consumer prices have reached the target level of 2%, and prices of seasonal products are showing a downward stabilization trend, mainly in fruits and livestock products," adding, "We will do our best to stabilize prices through additional supply for some items such as vegetables, which still have high prices." He also added, "Since household loans have recently shown an increasing trend, we will manage them stably."

Choi also mentioned, "To accelerate the economic recovery trend through strong exports, we will step up efforts to revitalize investment, which has recently shown signs of recovery with double-digit growth." He explained, "Within this month, we will operate the 'Expanded Investment Express' at the vice-ministerial level of related ministries to resolve on-site difficulties, and from next month, we plan to discuss investment revitalization measures by meeting jointly with ministers of related ministries, six major economic organizations, key companies, and industry-specific associations."

He also said, "As an investment revitalization task, we plan to actively support the third project of the Regional Revitalization Investment Fund, the 'Yeosu Myodo LNG Terminal' project in Jeollanam-do, to be completed without delay by the end of 2027." The Yeosu Myodo LNG Terminal is a large-scale project with a total project cost of 1.4362 trillion won, and once the terminal is established, it will be able to supply about 300 tons of LNG annually to nearby national industrial complexes such as Yeosu and Gwangyang.

Deputy Prime Minister Choi emphasized, "We will also accelerate the support measures prepared so far so that small business owners can quickly participate in the economic recovery trend." He added, "Following the financial support 'three-set' to reduce debt burden, which has provided a total of 241.3 billion won until last week, we will fully execute the applications from August starting this month," and "From today, we will also expand debt adjustment through the New Start Fund."

Choi said, "We will actively resolve inconveniences in the daily lives of the people." He explained, "To reduce noise between floors, we will establish new standards for judging floor structure defects and add a 'third party' as a pre-visit entity for newly built houses under the law to prevent disputes related to access by defect inspection agencies," and "We will expand the price display system for funeral goods and services and lower the speed limit of personal mobility devices such as electric kickboards to 20 km/h."

Deputy Prime Minister Choi said, "I hope the upcoming Chuseok holiday will revive the people's consumption spirit and brighten the domestic economy like a full moon."