South Korea's finance chief has been holding a press conference to announce the government's economic plan when it comes to negotiations with Japan after the termination of their military-intelligence sharing pact, GSOMIA.
We have our Hong Yoo on the line.
So Hong Yoo, what are the plans?
Well Jiyoon, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki pledged to actively respond by closely monitoring and improving examinations of the current situation to reduce the negative impact GSOMIA's termination could cause the national economy.
To come up with strategic and meticulous countermeasures to Japan's export curbs and to timely respond to potential market volatility, Hong will hold ministerial-level talks regarding Japan twice a week.
He asked the South Korean people and businesses to unite with confidence instead of feeling overburdened.
The finance minister also talked about next year's government budget bill. How will this be drawn up?
He said the 2020 budget bill will increase by around nine percent on-year to some 422-billion U.S. dollars.
Hong said a lot of things were considered when drawing up the bill such as the active role of finance for an economic response, supporting an increase in vitality and strengthening engagement as well as long-term financial conditions and policy capabilities.
With such a budget for 2020, the national debt level compared to GDP will increase to 39 percent from 37-point-2 percent this year.
The finance ministry will submit the bill proposal to the National Assembly on September 3rd after it goes through a government-ruling party consultation and is discussed by the cabinet next week.
Back to you, Jiyoon.
