Moon to meet chiefs of 4 biz lobby groups amid slowing economy

SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in will meet with the heads of four major local business lobby groups on Friday to discuss ways to prop up the slowing economy, his office said.

Moon will have a closed-door luncheon with Park Yong-maan, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI); Sohn Kyung-shik, head of the Korea Employers Federation; Kim Ki-mun, chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs; and Kim Young-ju, chief of the Korea International Trade Association.

It will be Moon's first meeting with South Korean business leaders at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in three months.

Moon plans to listen to their opinions on the economic situation and candidly discuss ways to revitalize the economy, according to presidential officials.

South Korean firms' response to Japan's export curbs against Seoul are likely to be discussed as well.

The meeting comes amid growing concerns that the South Korean economy is losing steam on faltering exports and sluggish domestic demand.

South Korea's consumer prices fell 0.4 percent in September from a year earlier, marking the first on-year drop in headline inflation since the government began compiling related data in 1965.

The government has dismissed concerns about deflation, but a set of economic data point to slackening economic momentum.

South Korea's exports, one of the main economic pillars, sank 11.7 percent on-year in September, hit by weak chip prices and a yearlong trade row between the United States and China.

The South has been grappling with Japan's restrictions on exports of key high-tech materials to Seoul since July.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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