SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday that he will take "focusing on people" as his administration's main economic policy goal for the rest of his single, five-year presidency as people suffered from inequalities and unfairness.
Moon said in his second address to the National Assembly that though the economy overcame the 1997 financial crisis with the help of people's hardship and efforts, people have since suffered from aftermaths such as prolonged low growth and unemployment.
The weak role of the government caused people's outcry over social irregularities and contradiction during the candlelit rallies on the streets under the past administration, the president said.
Moon vowed to take a paradigm of people- focused economy as his government's main policy goal.
Moon's national address followed the end on Tuesday of the parliamentary audit of government ministries that had lasted for about three weeks.
His government submitted next year's budget plan worth 429 trillion won (383 billion U.S. dollars) to the unicameral parliament. It was up 7.1 percent from this year, and marked the first since Moon took office in May.
The people-focused economy, Moon said, aimed to create a society, where people have no worry about livelihood in working eight hours a day, receive medical treatment without worry about money and get every opportunity to display talent and ability without restriction.
To achieve it, Moon said three key tasks will be undertaken by his government. Those include growth based on job creation and household income, growth led by innovative industries and fair economy.
Increased jobs and its consequent growth in household income will reinvigorate the domestic economy, while start-up companies and innovative industries provide a new growth engine, according to the president. The fair economy will return the "growth fruits" of the national economy to people, while offering a fair market in which all of people and companies are given a fair opportunity to compete under a fair rule.
Under the 2018 budget bill, the Moon government allocated 19.2 trillion won to help create decent jobs, especially in the public sector, such as social service workers and labor inspectors. It was up 2.1 trillion won from this year.
It will provide a taxation support for small firms to encourage them to hire more youths and shift irregular workers into regular ones. The government will also increase basic income and other pensions, while offering more medical expenses under the national health insurance system.
The government will invest 1.5 trillion won next year into core and converging technologies to brace for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, inducing talented minds to launch innovative start-up companies.
Meanwhile, President Moon emphasized his key principle on security issues aimed at denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Moon stressed the importance for the denuclearized peninsula, saying South Korea will neither develop nor possess nuclear weapons just as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will never be accepted as a nuclear state.
He said the DPRK's nuclear issue should be resolved peacefully as pressure and sanctions are only tools to encourage the DPRK to make a right choice and return to a dialogue table.
To sternly tackle the DPRK's provocations, Moon vowed to secure an overwhelming superiority of force and closely cooperate with the international community based on the South Korea-U.S. alliance.
According to the Moon government's first annual budget bill for next year, submitted to the unicameral parliament, defense budget would grow 6.9 percent in 2018, the fastest increase since 2009.
