After trip abroad, Yoon worries about economic security

President Yoon Suk-yeol presides over a Cabinet meeting in a newly remodeled conference room at the presidential office in Yongsan, central Seoul Monday. [NEWS1]

President Yoon Suk-yeol is focusing on economic security following his meeting with other world leaders at NATO Summit last week.

In a Cabinet meeting Tuesday morning, Yoon said Korea's economic situation was "very difficult," noting that consumer prices rose 6 percent last month from a year earlier.

"With an overlap of supply chain restructuring and the Covid-19 pandemic, the world is facing the most severe price shock since the oil crisis of the 1970s," said Yoon. "In response to the price crisis, the government has made efforts to lower supply costs and ease the burden for the vulnerable by lowering fuel taxes and other tariffs."

Yoon returned from a five-day trip to Spain last Friday after becoming the first Korean president to attend a NATO Summit. He met with the heads of more than 30 countries, including holding 10 bilateral talks, a trilateral summit with the United States and Japan and a quadrilateral meeting with Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

"At the NATO meetings," Yoon told his ministers, "we confirmed a firm position on universal values and norms and witnessed the fierce efforts of the international community to resolve security crises and global issues through solidarity.

"We can overcome domestic and international crises in solidarity with countries that share values," he said, stressing that "liberal democracy, human rights and the rule of law are essential to maintaining a sustainable community."

Economic security was a policy pledge during Yoon's presidential campaign.

In a meeting with senior presidential secretaries Monday, Yoon likewise said there was a consensus at the NATO meetings that "inflation and supply chain problems must be resolved through solidarity between countries that share values."

He told his aides that in bilateral talks on the sidelines of the summit, he held "meaningful discussions to prepare for the era of economic security," on issues such as nuclear power plants, defense, semiconductors and supply chains.

He noted that NATO's invitation of South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand to the summit as partner countries shows the importance of the Indo-Pacific region for "comprehensive security cooperation," noting that this includes "not only conventional political and military security, but also economic security."

Later this week, Korea and the United States will hold their first economic security dialogue in Washington.

Wang Yun-jong, presidential secretary for economic security, will meet with his U.S. counterpart Tarun Chhabra, senior director for technology and national security on the White House National Security Council, on Thursday in Washington. They will discuss issues including the global supply chain crisis and cooperation in semiconductors and other advanced technologies. The meeting follows agreements made at Yoon's bilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in Seoul in late May.

In the Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Yoon explained to his ministers his efforts at the NATO gathering to convince world leaders to cooperate on high-tech and promising industries for the futuire, and also get their support for Busan's bid to host the 2030 World Expo.

Yoon pledged to "personally take care of people's livelihood issues" and said he plans a new weekly emergency economic and public livelihood meeting.

Yoon announced a plan to drastically reduce the number of various committees in government agencies, blaming them for administrative inefficiencies. There are 629 government committees, and according the presidential office, he may slash 30 to 50 percent of them. He also plans to cut down 20 presidential committees by up to 70 percent and reduce their budgets.

Yoon called for public sector to help overcome the economic crisis, calling for more efficient management of the expenditure of public institutions and sales of their nonessential assets.

The Cabinet meeting was the first held in Yoon's newly remodeled presidential office on the second floor of the Yongsan government complex building.

Park Soon-ae, Yoon's newly appointed education minister, attended the meeting. Her appointment has raised controversy because of a past drunk driving conviction.

Yoon has struggled to find a new health minister after his second nominee, Kim Seung-hee, stepped down Monday over allegations she misused political funds for personal expenses.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]