President Lee says economy doing 'better' than expected

By Byun Duk-kun

SEOUL, April 23 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak said Thursday the Korean economy was doing better than expected due to what he called the "balanced" efforts of the government, but called for stepped up efforts to overcome the global economic crisis.

"The government has done many things until now and I believe the Emergency
Economic Council did especially well as a control tower to keep a balance between
policies and actual execution of the budget," the president was quoted as saying
by his spokesman Lee Dong-kwan.
The remarks came at a weekly meeting of the special economic council that was
established 100 days ago.
"The forecast by international organizations, including the OECD (Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development), that Korea will be the first to emerge
from the economic crisis is the result of various government efforts such as the
swift implementation of government spending and on-site market inspections," Lee
told the meeting, according to his spokesman.
The president, however, noted it will take more time and efforts before the
positive outlook will lead to actual recovery, urging continued and increased
efforts by the government.
"Now, we must work to make our policies reach every little vessel of the economy
and make sure none of our spending goes to waste in that process," he was quoted
as saying.