President Moon, in a meeting with his top aides, has called on lawmakers to take up the government's extra budget bill, which has been stalled in parliament because of partisan differences.
President Moon noted that plans for an extra budget were recently welcomed by the IMF, and he emphasized the need to time the spending to get the desired outcomes.
Meanwhile, looking at new growth engines for the Korean economy, he directed his aides to promote the bio-health industry.
Korea recently made it onto the EU's whitelist for pharmaceuticals, which is expected to help exports.
Meanwhile, President Moon Jae-in met with Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik and his wife Princess Mary to discuss ways to deepen bilateral ties, as they celebrate the 60th anniversary of their two countries establishing diplomatic relations.
President Moon thanked the Crown Prince for visiting Korea with his business and cultural delegations, and said he hopes the peoples of the two countries will form closer connections.
Prince Frederik expressed hopes that their talks can help strengthen ties between the two countries.
He said the two countries have been cooperating on sustainable development for more than eight years, and said he hopes meetings like today's can help expand the initiative.
During their official state visit from Monday to Wednesday, the prince and princess are also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon and Danish business leaders in Korea, and visit the demilitarized zone.
South Korea will seek to establish a state investigative agency that will manage probes by the police.
The decision was reached in a meeting this morning between representatives of the ruling Democratic Party, the government and the presidential office.
The new agency will prevent inappropriate intervention by high-ranking police officials.
The three sides also agreed to revise legislation to prevent police in charge of collecting intelligence from becoming involved in illegal acts.
The National Assembly recently fast-tracked a bill that would boost the investigative rights of the police by diluting those of the prosecution.
The three sides said the bill is not about empowering a particular organization, but instead being able to keep each side in check, and better protect people's rights and interests.
They also vowed to come up with further measures to ensure the increased authority of the police is not abused.
South Korea is soon to begin the procedures required for the 8 million U.S. dollar contribution to the UN for humanitarian assistance to North Korea.
South Korea's presidential office announced last Friday, after holding the National Security Council meeting, that it will collect opinions from the public and review specific options -- including whether to assist the North directly or indirectly through the World Food Programme.
Seoul's unification minister met last week with religious and civic groups and local experts, and will meet with university heads and religious leaders this week to discuss the issue.
It has emerged that China provided rice and fertilizer to North Korea last year.
That's amid UN Security Council sanctions that prohibit any large-scale economic assistance to the regime.
According to data from China's customs office, Beijing provided one-thousand tons of rice to the North, worth about one million U.S. dollars, between May and October 2018.
The data also shows China sent 1-hundred-62-thousand tons of fertilizer worth more than 55 million dollars.
Source: Arirang News
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