2 weeks Ago By [email protected](KoreaTimes)
Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok speaks to reporters as he attends the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Washington, D.C., Oct.
25. Yonhap Korea looks to develop economic cooperation with the United States in a "constructive" direction based on the two countries' "solid" alliance whoever wins the U.S.
presidential election next month, Seoul's finance minister said Friday. Choi Sang-mok said that the Seoul government has been studying the election pledges of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her Republican rival, Donald Trump, and how the U.S.
election would affect Korea's economy. Various polls have shown Vice President Harris and former President Trump locked in a dead heat, with narrow margins in the overall race in swing states that will likely determine the outcome of the Nov. 5 general election.
"Whoever is elected, (Korea) plans to develop bilateral economic cooperation in a constructive direction under the solid alliance," he told Korean reporters. "That is the most important basic position (of Korea)." Choi was in the U.
S. capital to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group. Asked to comment on Trump's proposal to impose tariffs of up to 20 percent on all U.
S. imports, Choi avoided answering it directly. "We are not in a situation where we can talk specifically about it as an election outcome has not come," the minister said.
"We are preparing measures to respond based on scenarios in a comprehensive consideration of past cases." Choi also cautioned against economic protectionism. "Basically, the expansion of the liberal trade order anchored in universal values is in the best interest of our country," he said.
"At multilateral trade forums, I have always been championing that and actively participating in the crafting of such norms." Commenting on economic growth uncertainties for Korea, Choi hinted at the possibility that Seoul could consider accelerating the implementation of its housing supply measure as an option to help address those uncertainties. The Bank of Korea (BOK) data has shown that the gross domestic product for Korea expanded 0.
1 percent on-quarter in the July-September period, lower than market expectations. "On the domestic demand front, the construction sector is weak. As for the construction sector, we've already decided to expand public-sector investment and have actually been pushing for that," he said.
"We announced a housing supply measure (in August), and increasing the pace of its implementation could be an option." (Yonhap).
