Yoon calls for response to long-term inflation

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a meeting with leaders of his transition team at its headquarters in Seoul, April 15. Transition team chief Ahn Cheol-soo is seated on the left. Yonhap

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said Friday that the economy was showing clear signs of a "multi-front crisis," with inflation particularly concerning, and instructed his transition team to come up with countermeasures.

"We will have to properly establish a comprehensive plan to improve the economic structure, including measures to stabilize prices to prepare for inflation over the long term," Yoon said at a meeting with committee leaders. "It appears that the lives actually felt by the people are extremely difficult."

Yoon said the Bank of Korea's decision to raise its interest rate to 1.5 percent Thursday was partly inevitable, but asked that the committee look into ways to minimize its harmful impact on vulnerable people.

"The new government's agenda has to be based on prioritizing only the national interest and the people," he said, adding that choosing items to place on an agenda was just as important as implementing the agenda.

"I ask that you draw up a detailed action plan that will enable us to properly keep our promises to the people," he said. (Yonhap)