Koo Yuncheol Vows Full Response to Economic Uncertainty... Public Incineration Facility Expansion to Be Shortened by Up to 3 Years and 6 Months

Emergency Economic Headquarters and Economic Ministers' Meeting
"Financial Market Volatility Persists... Accelerating Livelihood Recovery"

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yoon-chul stated on the 22nd that economic uncertainty persists due to the prolonged Middle East war, and announced that the government would accelerate efforts for public livelihood recovery and structural reform.

Presiding over the 'Emergency Economic Headquarters meeting and Economic-Related Ministers Meeting' at the Government Seoul Office that day, Deputy Prime Minister Koo said, "Economic uncertainty remains high, as the war drags on and volatility in the financial markets continues in part," adding, "The government will maintain a high level of vigilance and redouble efforts to restore livelihoods and revitalize the economy."

He further explained, "Exports in May increased by 64.8% year-on-year as of the 20th, continuing the positive trend, and the consumer sentiment index rebounded in May for the first time in three months." He assessed, "Thanks to the joint efforts of the public, businesses, and the government, the supply chain situation is gradually improving, and the crisis stemming from the Middle East war is being managed stably." The government plans to continue policies to ease the public burden, such as extending fuel tax cuts, while simultaneously pursuing structural reforms to boost the potential growth rate and address polarization.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yoon-chul is speaking at the Emergency Economic Headquarters meeting, Economic Ministers and National Startup Era Strategy meeting, and Real Estate Related Ministers meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 22nd. Photo by Yonhap News

The meeting also discussed the progress of the "Startup for All" project. Deputy Prime Minister Koo noted, "A record-high 63,000 people applied for the first project through a government contest," and added, "In June, we will select 5,000 first-round qualifiers and provide both mentoring and 2 million won each for startup activity funding and AI solution usage."

Among these, 1,100 individuals will receive up to 20 million won in commercialization funds and up to 500 million won in preferential guarantees. He also explained that the second round of the project, starting in July, will expand in scale to 10,000 participants. New leagues for university students, youth, and global participants will also be introduced.

Regarding plans to expand public incineration facilities, Deputy Prime Minister Koo stated, "We will reduce the typical project period, which usually takes about 12 years, by up to 3 years and 6 months," and continued, "We will streamline administrative procedures and promote permitting and design in parallel." The government's move to shorten the installation period for public incineration facilities comes as the ban on direct landfill of municipal waste in the Seoul metropolitan area will be implemented in non-metropolitan areas starting in 2030. The site selection phase will be shortened from the current 30 months to 18 months, and the basic planning and administrative procedure phase will be reduced from 38 months to 27 months. The design phase will be cut from 24 months to 17 months, and the construction phase will be shortened from 48 months to 36 months.

The government first plans to speed up projects by reducing administrative procedures. For the 20 public incineration facility projects nationwide with concrete business plans as of this year, the government will exempt them from the local financial investment review process. The projects involve both metropolitan and non-metropolitan local governments, including Bucheon, Uijeongbu, Gimpo, Sejong, Jeonju, and Daegu. The local financial investment review is a procedure to assess the budget appropriateness and necessity of large-scale projects.

The meeting also discussed plans to shift to a prevention-oriented personal information management system. On this topic, Deputy Prime Minister Koo said, "For high-risk groups, we will conduct intensive inspections and recommend corrective actions for deficiencies, managing them in a tailored manner proportional to the level of risk." He added, "We will also reform the incentive system, such as reducing fines for companies that actively invest in personal information protection."

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