(Unofficial Translation)

Only when there are jobs will there be lives and an economy for the people. Preserving jobs is key to overcoming the national crisis and the most urgent matter for survival. The Government has placed top priority on preemptive measures to stabilize employment and support vulnerable populations. We have also taken steps to revive businesses and protect jobs through financial measures worth more than 100 trillion won.

Now is the beginning phase of the crisis. Along with this crisis facing businesses, harsh employment conditions loom large. Even greater, unprecedentedly far-reaching and long-running impacts on employment might be coming. With extraordinary determination, we should reinforce government measures even further and deal with the situation decisively. We should never hesitate to think outside the box and implement extraordinary steps by going beyond the past measures and ways of doing things.

Today at the 5th Emergency Economic Council meeting, we will decide on special measures to protect the people’s jobs and rapidly cope with this crisis facing our key industries and the shocks to employment.

First of all, a key-industry stabilization fund worth 40 trillion won will be urgently raised to overcome the crisis and protect employment. Our key industries that have a great bearing on the economy and employment are finding themselves in tremendous peril. Some businesses have begun to find it difficult to surmount their problems through temporary financial assistance or liquidity provisions alone. 

The Government will use the key-industry stabilization fund to prevent those industries from collapsing. We will mobilize all available methods to support businesses, including investments and payment guarantees – going beyond tentative liquidity supply. With steadfast determination, we will safeguard our key industries without fail. 

In return for injecting taxpayer money to protect our key industries, we will require those businesses provided support to assume corresponding responsibilities. We will also stipulate requisite measures for businesses, including the maintenance of total number of jobs, self-rescue efforts and profit-sharing.

Support for businesses will be premised upon employment security, and we will take measures to prevent moral hazard by, among other things, restricting executive pay, limiting shareholder dividends and banning stock buybacks. We will also push ahead with plans to share the benefits of normalization with the people.

The key-industry stabilization fund requires the revision of the relevant law in the National Assembly. I look forward to the National Assembly cooperating on the legislation designed to safeguard our key industries and the people’s jobs.

In addition, the Government will add 35 trillion won to the 100 trillion won in emergency financial measures decided upon during the 1st and 2nd Emergency Economic Council meetings. Through this total of 135 trillion won, we will expand support for microbusiness owners and corporate bond purchases as well as increase liquidity support even for companies with low credit ratings.

In a separate move, the Government will inject 10 trillion won into emergency-employment-security measures to actively respond to the emerging employment shock caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. We will drastically reduce blind spots in the employment safety net to provide tight-knit support, while focusing on preventing an unemployment crisis by backing employment retention. The Government will also redouble its efforts to create new jobs directly.

First, we will provide maximum support to businesses that maintain employment levels. While continuing to provide an increasing amount of job retention subsidies that cover up to 90 percent of furlough allowances, we will actively shore up employment maintenance through the fast-aid program, whose beneficiaries have been expanded to even include workers on unpaid leave. We will enhance assistance by designating airline ground service, duty-free shops and other severely hit lines of business as eligible for special employment support.

Second, we will drastically reduce blind spots in the support provided for employment security. In particular, emergency-employment-security payments will be provided to 930,000 people, including freelancers, the contract-based self-employed and small-scale business owners, who have until now been left out of such support. They will be provided 500,000 won per month for three months. I hope that those who have lost jobs or had their incomes decrease will receive at least some help to maintain their livelihoods.  

Third, the Government itself will set out to create jobs. In the present situation where the private sector cannot afford to generate employment, the Government will take the initiative to create 500,000 jobs for the people. We will work to offer comfort, albeit small, to those who have difficulties finding employment by actively creating jobs in the public sector and jobs for young adults. The postponed public sector employment process will be normalized as soon as possible. 

At the same time, the Government needs to boldly push ahead with large-scale projects nationwide to create new jobs. It is about opening the door to a novel opportunity to overcome the employment crisis by creating new jobs. 

The Government will not just create jobs but will also prepare for innovative growth in the post-COVID-19 era by implementing large-scale national projects that are highly effective for job creation. I urge related ministries and agencies to quickly prepare to form a planning group that will pursue a so-called Korean version of the New Deal as a large-scale national project. I ask the Government to take the initiative with a special sense of duty. 

As I have stressed repeatedly time and again, what is more important than anything else is speed. It is most important to quickly execute the emergency economic measures announced to date. I call upon you to complete the disbursement of the first supplementary budget as quickly as possible, to prepare for an immediate distribution of the second supplementary budget by passing the related bill as soon as possible and swiftly seek the third supplementary budget and legislation necessary to implement the emergency measures that we will decide on today.     

I plead with the National Assembly to make decisions quickly through an agreement in the interest of a greater cause in consideration of the fact that this is an extraordinary time when we have a mountain of tasks before us.