Harsh emergency martial law bill...What is the responsibility for the aftermath of the impeachment of acting Han Deok-soo?

■ Host: Kim Jeong-jin Anchor
■ Starring: Lee Jong-soo, YTN Commentator

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN24] when quoting.

[Anchor]
Severe emergency security bills are flying in one after another. Financial markets fluctuated last week, and consumer sentiment this month turned out to be the worst since the pandemic. Foreign media reports say that the entire nation will pay for the declaration of martial law in installments. Let's take a closer look at it with commentator Lee Jong-soo. It's Christmas today.It's hard to feel the atmosphere to your heart's content in a political situation. The U.S. market recorded Santa Rally, but our market did not see a good trend.

[Reporter]
That's right. As correspondent Lee Seung-yoon also reported, all three major indexes, including the New York Stock Exchange Dow, which closed early in the morning today, rose to around 1%, recording Santa Rally. However, the KOSPI barely managed to pull over the 2,400-point level, similar to last week. The KOSDAQ rose slightly.Ma only recovered to the 680 level. This year, the KOSPI accepted the worst report card among major Asian countries. Let's take a look at the graphic. If you look at the graphic, you'll see.Taiwan's self-reliance index is up 28.85% this year. As it soared quite a bit, it rose the most among the Asia-Pacific stock markets. Then Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index, Japan's Nikkei Index and China's CSI all posted double-digit gains. On the other hand, the KOSPI fell more than 8%.

[Anchor]
It's a blue light by myself.

[Reporter]
And the won-dollar exchange rate rose by 5 won from last week to close at 1456.4 won. This is a salve. And it's not stopping rising, is it? At the same time, it is close to the 1460 mark.

[Anchor]
There seems to be no sign of recovery in the financial market. It's our economy, which was already difficult, but red flags continue to come in the midst of martial law and impeachment. Consumption is frozen, isn't it?

[Reporter]
That's right. Don't you think the economy is psychology? Depending on what kind of psychology consumers have, we will be able to determine whether the economy will improve or worsen in the future. As you said, our consumer sentiment was very frozen due to the martial law crisis and impeachment. The Bank of Korea released its December consumer sentiment index yesterday, and as you can see from the graphic, it hit 88.4. This is down 12.3 points from November. This drop is very large, but it is the largest since March 2020, when COVID-19 was in full swing.

If the consumer sentiment index exceeds 100, you are optimistic about the economy, and then below that, you are pessimistic. The future economic outlook is also only 56. So I'm looking at it quite negatively. And how martial law proclamation caused consumers to close their wallets, can't you see this by looking at the amount of credit card usage? However, in the first week of this month, when martial law was declared, credit card usage plunged 26% compared to the previous week. I lost a lot of weight. And all of them fell out, but Gwangju lost the most at 35.9%. In Seoul, 29%, nearly 30% left.

[Anchor]
The current economic recession, in which credit card spending continues to decline and political turmoil is being fueled. It's not that far away next year, right? Our economic outlook for next year is not bright, is it?

[Reporter]
The Bank of Korea's potential growth rate, the basic physical strength, last week, will fall to around 1%. I gave this grim outlook. The government also predicted this week that growth would fall to the 1% range, although it originally expected growth of 2.2% next year. Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok directly mentioned this. Let's listen to it for ourselves.

[Reporter]
The government's lowering of the economic growth rate to 1% next year is slowing export growth. And isn't it expected that trade tariffs or protectionism will be strengthened ahead of the launch of Trump's second term? And as I explained earlier, the downward revision was made due to the frozen consumer sentiment and the combination of such bad news, and Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok expressed his honest feelings yesterday that the flow of such uncertainty is worrisome.

[Anchor]
As you mentioned earlier, isn't Trump about to launch his second term? With Acting President Han Deok-soo coming in, didn't you start operating diplomatic channels again with the Biden administration, which is leaving for now? What's going on with the second Trump administration right now?

[Reporter]
As you said, the Vice Foreign Ministers of South Korea and the U.S. agreed to completely resume the diplomatic and security schedule that has been delayed due to the martial law crisis, so they decided to set the date for the foreign ministers' meeting of the two countries as soon as possible. First, let's hear about U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. And a high-ranking Korean official said, "We are communicating about the contact between Trump and acting Han Deok-soo, but there is no schedule yet." At first, Trump said he would refrain from meeting foreign leaders before taking office, but he actually met with the Argentine president, the Canadian prime minister, and the French president.

He also expressed his willingness to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba. In Korea, it is known that only Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin met as the only political and business figure in Korea. If Trump takes office and pushes for direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un very early on, there are still concerns about passing South Korea. In fact, the Congressional Research Service, a think tank under the U.S. Congress, released a report yesterday stating that Korea could be at a disadvantage due to martial law and impeachment ahead of Trump's inauguration.

[Anchor]
We are also concerned about the growing concern about passing Korea, but it is a difficult situation without economy or diplomacy. Among them, the Democratic Party of Korea has expressed its position that it will impeach Han Deok-soo if he does not appoint a constitutional judge at tomorrow's plenary session. I'm going to talk about this situation, too. If impeachment is actually carried out, wouldn't there be a backlash?

[Reporter]
The aftermath is expected to be significant. It adds to the political turmoil. The opacity that has a huge impact on the economy right now. If that happens, wouldn't the view of Korea from abroad become more unstable? The more uncertain the normalization is, the more it can hurt our external credibility and this side. And if acting Han Deok-soo is impeached, wouldn't acting Choi Sang-mok take over? In that case, from the perspective of the United States or major countries, the weight of the counterpart is even lower.

And in the case of Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, as I said, isn't he acting as an economic leader in the financial market or at the forefront? However, when Deputy Prime Minister Choi becomes an acting prime minister, there is a question of who should be in charge of the economic command. Some members of the Democratic Party suggested that the Cabinet could be nullified because ministers were impeached one after another. What will happen if the state administration is actually paralyzed? Perhaps because of that, the Democratic Party of Korea also drew the line as a lawmaker's personal opinion because it was too much to say.

[Anchor]
Let me point out one last thing. Isn't it the day when the ruling-opposition government consultative body will be launched tomorrow? There are concerns about the impeachment of Acting President Han Deok-soo, and whether discussions to revive the economy and public security can actually be made.

[Reporter]
As you just said, isn't the Democratic Party in a position to watch whether acting Han Deok-soo will appoint a constitutional judge tomorrow? So this issue is becoming a variable for the ruling-opposition government council. Isn't our economy and people's livelihoods in an urgent situation? We have to reduce the uncertainty, but we can't just go for this. There's a golden time. So tomorrow, regardless of the promise, the ruling and opposition parties must put their heads together and launch a consultative body. And it is true that there is an agenda that is difficult to narrow differences, but in my personal opinion, it can be easy to agree on the dispatch of overseas special envoys to major countries in the name of the chairman.

In addition, if the list of lawmakers is agreed and announced, there is a considerable signal of stability to the domestic and foreign markets. And there are disagreements between the Democratic Party and the government on the creation of additional economic budgets. But this could be controversial. However, even if the controversy is controversial, if there is a schedule and a roadmap, it is expected that compromise will be achieved in the market, and that risk will be managed. Therefore, if such a schedule is prepared, I think it will be of considerable help to revive the economy and people's livelihoods.

[Anchor]
Measures for economy, people's livelihoods, diplomacy, and security should come out. We have to watch the ruling-opposition government consultative body tomorrow. So far, we've talked with commentator Lee Jong-soo. Thank you for talking today.