 ▲ 14일 오전 청와대에서 열린 제16회 국무회의 겸 제5차 비상경제점검회의 © 뉴시스 |
이재명 대통령이 14일 중동 상황 관련해 "당분간 글로벌 에너지·원자재 공급망 어려움·고유가가 계속될 건데 이를 상수에 두고 현 비상 대응 체제를 더욱 확고히 다져나가야겠다"고 밝혔다.
이 대통령은 이날 오전 청와대에서 열린 제16회 국무회의 겸 제5차 비상경제점검회의 모두 발언에서 "지난 주말 진행된 중동 전쟁 종전 협상이 합의점을 제대로 못 찾는 것 같다"며 이같이 말했다.
그러면서 "(미·이란이) 계속 협상 하겠으나 호르무즈 해협을 둘러싼 양측 갈등이 고조되고 있어 상황을 낙관하기 쉽지 않다"며 "추가경정예산안이 확정됐는데 발 빠른 민생 현장 투입이 시급하다"고 했다.
이어 "지난해 민생회복 소비쿠폰 지급 당시 일부 지방자치단체에서 발생했던 비인권적 행태가 혹여라도 반복되지 않게 각별히 유념해 달라"고 했다.
또 "전쟁 과정서 확인된 경제 산업 구조 취약점 개선 노력도 박차를 가해야 하겠다"며 "대체공급망 개척·중장기 산업 구조 개혁·탈플라스틱 경제 실현 등을 국가 최우선 핵심 전략 프로젝트로 추진해 주면 좋겠다"고 했다.
더불어 "석유 최고가격제를 시행하다보니 (한국이) 전세계서 유류값이 가장 싼 나라가 되지 않았나 싶다"며 "국민 경제·서민들 어려움 때문에 가격을 억제하고 있는데 세금이 들어가고 있어 사용 절감을 위해 노력해 달라"고 했다.
이 대통령은 "일부서 소비 절감해야 하는 상황인데 오히려 소비가 늘고 있고, 100% 잘한 일이냐란 반론이 있던데 일리 있는 지적"이라며 "이런 지적들이 있어 최대한 유류 사용 절감을 위해 노력해 주면 좋겠다"고 했다.
이어 "가격 안정을 위해 국민들이 내는 세금으로 누르고 있다"며 "결국 생산 원가·실제 판매 가격 간 차액을 정부가 보전하는데 다 국민 세금 아니겠나, 최대한 절감을 위해 노력해 달라"고 했다.
영문 기사의 [전문]입니다. '구글번역'은 이해도 높이기를 위해 노력하고 있습니다. 영문 번역에 오류가 있을 수 있음을 전제로 합니다.<*The following is [the full text] of the English article translated by 'Google Translate'. 'Google Trworking hard to improve understanding. It is assumed that there may be errors in the English translation.
President Lee Jae-myung: "Emerging Hormuz Conflict; Emergency Response to High Oil Prices for the Time Being"
16th Cabinet Meeting and 5th Emergency Economic Review Meeting: "Urgent need for rapid deployment of supplementary budget to the field for people's livelihoods... Promoting the pioneering of alternative supply chains, mid-to-long-term industrial structural reform, and the realization of a plastic-free economy as top national core strategic projects."
-kihong Kim reporter
President Lee Jae-myung stated on the 14th regarding the situation in the Middle East, "Difficulties in global energy and raw material supply chains and high oil prices will continue for the time being; we must treat this as a constant and further solidify the current emergency response system."
President Lee made these remarks during his opening address at the 16th Cabinet meeting and the 5th Emergency Economic Review Meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae this morning, noting, "It appears that the negotiations to end the Middle East war held last weekend are failing to find a proper point of agreement."
He added, "(The U.S. and Iran) will continue negotiations, but it is difficult to be optimistic about the situation as the conflict between the two sides over the Strait of Hormuz is escalating." He emphasized, "Now that the supplementary budget bill has been finalized, it is urgent to quickly deploy funds to the field to address the people's livelihoods."
He further urged, "Please pay special attention to ensure that the inhumane behaviors that occurred in some local governments during the distribution of consumption coupons for livelihood recovery last year are not repeated." He also stated, "We must accelerate efforts to improve the vulnerabilities in the economic and industrial structure identified during the war," adding, "I hope you will promote the pioneering of alternative supply chains, mid-to-long-term industrial structural reform, and the realization of a plastic-free economy as top national strategic projects."
Furthermore, he remarked, "I suspect that Korea has become the country with the lowest fuel prices in the world due to the implementation of the oil price ceiling system," and asked, "We are suppressing prices due to the national economy and the difficulties faced by ordinary citizens, but since this involves tax revenue, please make efforts to reduce consumption."
President Lee noted, "There have been counterarguments questioning whether this was a 100% correct action, given that consumption is actually increasing despite the need to cut back; this is a valid point," and added, "Given these criticisms, I hope you will make every effort to reduce fuel usage as much as possible."
He continued, "We are suppressing prices using taxes paid by the people to stabilize them," and asked, "Ultimately, the government subsidizes the difference between production costs and actual sales prices, and isn't that all funded by taxpayers' money? Please make every effort to reduce consumption as much as possible."
