Party and Government "Promptly Process Various Bills to Improve Stock Market Structure"

Appears to Have Agreed on Amendments to the Capital Market Act for Value Up
Strengthening Support for Small Business Owners and Self-Employed
Preparing for Changes in Trade Environment...Enhancing Support for Key Strategic Industries

The People Power Party and the government announced on the 22nd that they will "promptly process various bills to improve the stock market's structure." They also decided to continue operating the currently active market stabilization program, worth up to 90 trillion won, without interruption next year to prepare for sudden financial market instability.

On the 22nd, Kim Sang-hoon, Chairman of the Policy Committee, made this announcement after concluding the 'Party-Government Meeting on Livelihood Economy Inspection' held at the National Assembly main building. The meeting covered trade measures, support measures for small business owners, and financial market trends and countermeasures.

Yonhap News

Regarding the financial market, the party and government shared the view that "with the inauguration of the Trump administration approaching, significant changes are expected in the U.S. economic, trade, and environmental policies. They agreed to firmly stabilize the financial market while working together to ensure that Korean companies can smoothly respond to the rapidly changing global economic environment and industrial restructuring."

Specifically, the government plans to discuss major issues through the Macroeconomic and Financial Issues Meeting (F4 meeting), while separately operating three specialized meetings focusing on financial and foreign exchange markets (Macroeconomic and Financial Meeting), trade (Global Trade Strategy Meeting), and industry (Ministerial Meeting on Strengthening Industrial Competitiveness) to respond intensively to external factors. The People Power Party urged the government to "closely manage major risk factors such as household debt, real estate project financing (PF), and the soundness of the secondary financial sector."

Furthermore, the party and government stated, "Regarding the stock market, we will stabilize market sentiment in the short term through measures such as establishing value-up funds, while continuously promoting long-term structural improvements of the stock market." To this end, they emphasized that "enhancing corporate value and expanding the market demand base are necessary," and announced that "various bills to improve the stock market's structure will be promptly processed." This is interpreted as a reaffirmation of the intention to amend laws such as the Capital Market Act for value-up initiatives. However, no specific details about the countermeasures were provided.

Regarding support measures for small business owners, the government requested that the 5.9 trillion won budget allocated for small business owners be reflected as much as possible during the National Assembly review. Additionally, they decided to strengthen support for the delivery and courier fee subsidy program (300,000 won) scheduled to be introduced next year, expand the issuance scale of Onnuri gift certificates, and support the 'New Start Hope Project,' which provides one-stop assistance for reemployment and re-entrepreneurship.

Concerning the trade environment, the People Power Party requested that "the government minimize corporate uncertainties and thoroughly prepare countermeasures that actively utilize opportunities." On the party level, they stated that "through forming a Korea-U.S. parliamentary league targeting the U.S. Congress, they will promote dense parliamentary diplomacy and actively explain that Korean companies contribute to U.S. job creation and strengthening advanced industry supply chains." In this regard, the party and government agreed to focus on legislation and budget execution to support core strategic industries so that it can be linked to improving the economy's structure and competitiveness.

Attending the meeting from the party were Representative Han Dong-hoon and Policy Committee Chairman Kim, and from the government were Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Choi Sang-mok, among others.