President vows continued measures to overcome crisis

SEOUL, May 6 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak vowed Wednesday to continue
taking "preemptive" measures to overcome the global economic crisis, saying the
country has yet to recover completely.

"The entire world says Korea is doing better than any other nation, but we must
not believe so and continue to take careful, discreet and consistent measures,"
the president said in a meeting with the head of the ruling Grand National Party
(GNP), Park Hee-tae.
The president met Park for the first time after the ruling party suffered a
crushing defeat in by-elections a week ago. The GNP lost in all five
parliamentary races.
Lee said the party must humbly accept the election outcome, but expressed his
continued confidence in Park, saying the party leader must spearhead efforts to
reform and unite the troubled party.
The president also thanked the party leader for the parliament's recent passage
of a 28.4 trillion won (US$21.4 billion) supplementary budget, noting it will
help create a large number of jobs.
"The government will continue to take preemptive measures (to overcome the
economic crisis) as the Assembly, too, helped us do so," he said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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