Chairing the weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday at the government complex administrative city of Sejong for the first time, President Moon Jae-in said the issue of revitalizing local economies is an urgent matter.
He also said there are so much that still need to be resolved such as economic polarization and the difficulties faced by small businesses and the self-employed.
President Moon added that it is important for South Koreans to tangibly feel the economic accomplishments by his administration.
Meanwhile, during his inaugural speech on Tuesday, the head of the president's second economic team Hong Nam-ki urged companies to make investments and take the lead in creating jobs as the country makes every effort to bolster economic growth.
As for one of the tangible outcomes, the top economic policymaker said he will have prepared a structural reform plan for the country's minimum-wage by the first quarter next year.
For the first time, South Korea's foreign ministry has set aside a separate budget to be spent on highlighting, on a global scale, the issue of wartime sexual slavery.
The victims of this practice by Japan during World War Two are commonly referred to as "comfort women."
And Up to 200 thousand of them were Korean.
The foreign ministry has set aside 440-thousand U.S. dollars, which will be used to organize forums and seminars to discuss how to protect women in troubled parts of the world, and to raise global awareness of the comfort women.
North Korea's de facto second-in-command, Choe Ryong-hae, has been added by the United States to its sanctions for human rights violations.
On that list, he joins leader Kim Jong-un and his sister Kim Yo-jong.
The sanctions freeze their property or interests within the U.S. and ban their transactions with U.S. citizens.
Experts say it's a move to put pressure on Kim Jong-un with Pyeongyang not responding to Washington's requests for talks.
29 people, including the North Korean leader, have been sanctioned for human rights violations since 2016.
South Korea and the United States are holding their tenth round of negotiations of the year over the Special Measures Agreement - that is sharing defense costs for the stationing of some 28,500 American troops on the Korean Peninsula.
From Tuesday to Thursday, the allies will try to reach a deal which should take effect starting next year.
One of the biggest bones of contention is how much each side will have to pay. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump wants Seoul to pay as much as double the current amount.
Another issue is Washington's demand that Seoul pay for a new category of expenses called "operational support," which is for American troops outside the Peninsula.
But South Korea is standing firm that it will only contribute money to three areas, which are payroll, construction and logistics,as it has in the past.
Source: Arirang News
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