President Lee: "Safely bringing home our sailors and ships stranded in the Strait of Hormuz is the most urgent task"

[Financial News] President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea stated on the 9th, "The most urgent task is to safely bring home our sailors and ships that are currently stranded in the Strait of Hormuz," adding, "Mobilize all of our diplomatic capabilities and networks, and engage in active consultations based on close cooperation with the international community."
Lee Jae Myung said in his opening remarks at the 29th Senior Presidential Aides’ Meeting, which he chaired at the main building of Cheong Wa Dae, "With the United States and Iran agreeing to a two-week ceasefire, the situation in the Middle East, which had been deteriorating rapidly, is entering a new phase." He continued, "It is still too early to be optimistic about the outcome, and even if negotiations proceed smoothly, there is a high risk that the shock of the war will persist for a considerable period of time."
He went on to say, "The government must not relax its vigilance for a moment and should push ahead with well-prepared, preemptive measures for every possible scenario in even greater detail." Lee also requested, "Please make every effort to ensure the stable management of items whose supply has recently raised concerns, such as plastics, vinyl products, and medical supplies."
Lee Jae Myung stressed, "No matter when and in what way the war in the Middle East comes to an end, the world after the war will be completely different from the world before it." He added, "We must accelerate the diversification of our energy supply sources, the transition to a society centered on renewable energy, and innovation in our industrial structure, and we must also redouble our efforts to foster future growth engines such as Artificial Superintelligence (ASI), next-generation small modular reactor (SMR), artificial intelligence (AI), and Robot technologies." He reiterated, "We must further step up efforts to nurture future growth engines, including ASI, SMR, AI, and robots."
He again underscored the strategy of region-led growth. Lee Jae Myung said, "A grand shift toward growth led by local regions, in which everyone benefits, is an essential condition for the sustainable and qualitative leap of our economy," adding, "It is no exaggeration to say that balanced regional development is a national survival strategy." He continued, "We must not only continue to promote large-scale regional investment projects such as Hyundai Motor Company’s investment in Saemangeum, but also firmly uphold the principle of favoring local regions in our medium- to long-term fiscal strategy."

west@fnnews.com Reporter Seong Seok-woo Reporter