SEOUL, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- South Korea is instituting a 24-hour emergency response system to ensure the world's 11th largest economy is not hobbled by the recent impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.
A meeting on a joint emergency economic response was held Saturday, local news service Money Today reported.
Officials from Seoul's financial services commission, the Bank of Korea, the trade and transportation ministries were among those who attended the ministry of strategy and finance meeting.
The meeting is taking place as concern is growing among experts of South Korea the country may be hampered by the recent removal of Park from office.
Although a parliamentary decision culminated in the impeachment of Park on Friday with the national assembly voting 234 to 56 to impeach the president, interim president Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn is not mandated to make decisions on sensitive government matters, according to Scott Snyder, a senior fellow in Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Deputy Prime Minister Yoo Il-ho agreed to strengthen cooperation among Seoul's network of ministries in order to mitigate any economic impact of the political situation. Yoo promptly launched a joint emergency response team that can monitor local financial markets on a 24-hour basis.
On Friday the country's main stock index the KOSPI slid 0.3 percent after the impeachment was confirmed.
Seoul is expected to ensure reporters on Sunday that "there is no gap in the national economy," according to the report.
Park's impeachment comes after six weeks of peaceful demonstrations by South Koreans who called for her to step down after allegations surfaced an influential friend intervened illicitly in government affairs.
Experts are concerned, however, that a power vacuum could threaten stability.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/12/09/South-Korea-to-monitor-economy-under-24-hour-emergency-response-system/6681481342850/
>>90706
Aidan Foster-Carter, a senior research fellow at Britain's Leeds University, writes "Months of government paralysis" may be around the corner, owing to possible delays that could take as much as six months in Korea's constitutional court on a final impeachment decision.
"The outcome is far from certain, given the court's conservative bias," Foster-Carter writes, adding if impeachment fails Park could return to finish her five-year term as president.
S. Korea to take preemptive steps against any volatility over impeachment
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2016/12/10/0200000000AEN20161210001751320.html
SEOUL, Dec. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's finance minister pledged Saturday to aggressively carry out the government budget to boost the economy as South Korea is scrambling to minimize the economic fallout from the parliament's impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.
Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho met with senior officials and asked them to make preparations to ensure that the government can swiftly execute next year's budget in early 2017.
He also said he will ensure that companies and households can keep business as usual in their investments and consumption amid concerns that political uncertainties could hinder economic activity.
He made the comments to reporters after a separate meeting with five leaders of the country's main business organizations.
Yoo also asked business leaders to hire new employees as scheduled and quickly come up with investment plans for next year and implement them.
His appeal came a day after the National Assembly overwhelmingly voted to impeach Park over a high-profile corruption scandal that has paralyzed South Korea.
Separately, Vice Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok held an emergency meeting with relevant officials and they said that the government will take preemptive measures against factors that could destabilize markets.
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said that the government also will take swift and stern steps, if necessary, to contain any volatility in the financial market. No details were given.
Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn called on officials to closely monitor the financial markets at home and abroad and to ensure that internal and external instabilities would not affect consumer and investor sentiment.
>>90708
South Korea's stock and foreign-exchange markets ended without showing any volatile moves on Friday as Park was widely expected to be impeached in the vote and the expectations were already factored in the market.
The Bank of Korea said the impeachment would have a limited impact on the economy, noting South Korea's economy is mainly affected by external factors, not the impeachment decision.
South Korea's credit default swap premium -- which measures a country's credit risks -- stood at 42.5 basis points on Friday, unchanged from the previous day's level.
The Korean won slightly fell to 1,168.8 against the U.S. dollar in the non-deliverable forward markets on Friday from 1,163.3 won a session earlier.
The impeachment has sparked concerns of political uncertainties at home on top of overseas uncertainties that include the policies of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and the pace of a possible U.S. rate hike.
Still, some investment banks believe the impeachment decision has lifted some political uncertainty and won't undermine confidence in the South Korean economy, according to the central bank.
The BOK said a prolonged vacuum of power could increase downside risks in the economy, citing some foreign investment banks.
On Friday, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn began to serve as acting president until the Constitutional Court determines Park's fate, a process that could take up to 180 days.
The government said a joint task force team will monitor the real-sector economy, such as exports and investments, around the clock to ease any possible impact of the impeachment on Asia's fourth-largest economy.
It also said it will strengthen communication with foreign investors, foreign reporters and credit rating agencies to avoid any misunderstanding in the markets.
>>90706
>Experts are concerned, however, that a power vacuum could threaten stability
yes because you have to be an "expert" to predelict that a president being impeached could shake things up a bit.