Blue House: "Uncertainty in the Middle East Remains Very High... Emergency Response System to Be Maintained Until End of War"

Blue House Holds Emergency Economic Meeting After US-Iran Ceasefire Talks Collapse

"Even After War Ends, Normalization and Recovery Will Take Considerable Time"

Intensive Discussions to Restore Naphtha Supply to Pre-War Levels

The Blue House announced on April 12 that it would strictly maintain the current emergency response system until a clear declaration of the end of the war is made, following the breakdown of ceasefire negotiations between the United States and Iran.

Jeon Eunsoo, spokesperson for the Blue House, conveyed the results of the 'Emergency Economic Issue Review Meeting' during a briefing at the Blue House Press Hall on the same day. Earlier, the Blue House had checked economic issues arising from the Middle East war and discussed future response measures, with the meeting chaired by policy chief Kim Yongbeom and attended by vice ministers from relevant ministries.

Jeon Eunsoo, spokesperson, is briefing on April 12 at the Blue House Press Hall regarding the emergency economic issue review meeting chaired by Kim Yongbeom, policy chief. 2026.4.12 Yonhap News Agency.

Spokesperson Jeon stated, "The meeting participants agreed that, based on the outcome of the first round of negotiations and recent developments, uncertainty surrounding our economy remains very high. In particular, it was reported that even if a ceasefire or eventual end to the war is achieved, it will take a considerable amount of time to normalize logistics and transportation and to restore energy production facilities in the Middle East."

Jeon continued, "We will continue to operate the emergency economic review meeting chaired by the President and the emergency economic headquarters chaired twice a week by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. The item-by-item daily monitoring system, which acts as a traffic light for managing supply chains and prices, will also remain in place. Depending on how the situation unfolds, we will consider additional measures such as prohibiting hoarding and implementing emergency supply stabilization actions."

Efforts to reduce energy demand and secure supply will also continue. Jeon noted, "Due to the lingering impact of supply chain disruptions, crude oil prices are projected to remain above the pre-war level of $70 per barrel for the time being, even after the end of the war." Accordingly, the alternate-day driving system for public institution vehicles, the five-day rotation for public parking lots, and the five-day rotation for private and voluntary vehicles will continue to be implemented for the time being.

In addition, Jeon announced that the government would promptly implement the 'Everyone's Card' incentive program to encourage people to shift from using private cars to public transportation. With this measure, the flat-rate refund rate will increase by 30 percentage points, and the threshold amount for the fixed-amount refund will be lowered by 50%. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will finalize the system improvement plan this week and complete the improvements by early next month. The refund benefits will be applied retroactively from the date of this announcement in April 2026.

Regarding the 678.3 billion won 'Naphtha Import Price Differential Support' project included in the supplementary budget, Jeon said, "As funding arrangements have been completed, there was a discussion urging all-out efforts to restore naphtha supply volume to the pre-war level of 2.11 million tons." She added, "The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will immediately initiate emergency communication with refiners and others to expand naphtha imports, and if the budget is exhausted early, additional reserve funds will be injected to minimize the impact on the industry."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.