Prime Minister Han "Consider lifting visa restrictions before the end of February if the Chinese confirmed case is tolerable"

Regarding the government's extension of the ban on short-term visa issuance for Chinese nationals today (31st) from the end of this month to next month, Prime Minister Han Deok-soo said, "If we find out the results of the Chinese Corona 19 PCR (gene amplification) test, etc., Even before that, we will consider whether to release it."

At a press conference held at the Seoul Government Complex, Prime Minister Han answered the question, "China has expressed regret over the extension of restrictions on visa issuance in Korea, but will there be any impact on exchanges between Korea and China?"

Prime Minister Han explained, "Looking at the PCR test results of Chinese nationals currently entering Korea, we still need to be careful to completely lift the visa restrictions."

Prime Minister Han also revealed that he had breakfast with Gita Gopinath, senior vice president of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who was visiting Korea.

He said, "What he rated the most (highly) was that the Korean government was making efforts to secure firm fiscal soundness despite various domestic political pressures." Education) I think all of these things will be reflected."

Prime Minister Han said that Senior Vice President Gopinath predicted that the easing of China's full lockdown would benefit Korea and the world economy.

Regarding the fact that the IMF lowered Korea's economic growth rate forecast for this year by 0.3 percentage point from the 2.0% predicted in October last year to 1.7%, Prime Minister Han said, "In October of last year, global interest rates were rising to respond to inflation, and interest rates continued to rise to some extent. It was an uncertain situation," he said. "It seems that it was a difficult situation to accurately diagnose the economy."

"The Korean government lowered the growth rate to 1.6%, but the IMF raised it slightly more than that," he said. "It seems to be more stable than the worst."

Regarding China's semiconductor regulation led by the US, Prime Minister Han said, "There is a strong global demand for China to conduct economic and social, political and diplomatic operations based on more rules, so Korea is joining forces together." suggested.

“Our country is making efforts to ensure that our relations with China, at least for now, are not significantly damaged through appropriate communication and negotiations,” he added.

Regarding the government department's business report, Prime Minister Han said, "This year, the overall atmosphere of the business report was to lay the foundation for mid- to long-term growth of our economy, reduce the burden on the people as much as possible, and make efforts as the economy recovers."

Regarding President Yoon Seok-yeol's emphasis on 'stewardship' in the Financial Services Commission's business report the previous day, he said, "Even during the Moon Jae-in administration, there was talk that stewardship should be used to improve overall corporate governance."

Stewardship means that institutional investors, such as pension funds, actively participate in corporate decision-making to induce transparent management.

Regarding the establishment of the Immigration Office, Prime Minister Han insisted on the necessity, saying, "The population problem is coming to us as a disaster."

"There is a prediction that 70 years from now, the ratio of working people caring for the elderly in Korea will be worse than in Japan," he said. I did.

He also added, “Now it is clear that an independent organization should actively start thinking about how to take policies (such as immigration).”

In a cabinet meeting yesterday, Prime Minister Han defined a policy that does not adjust prices according to market conditions in relation to soaring heating costs as 'populism'.

He also pointed out on this day, "Forcibly restraining prices even when they have to adjust prices due to the international economic environment and other factors is a typical populism because it is a policy that is not sustainable for a long time."

It was an indirect criticism of the fact that the Moon Jae-in administration did not raise energy prices on time.

Regarding the 180 billion won gas cost support plan approved by President Yoon the day before, Prime Minister Han said, "