Kang Hoon-sik, the presidential chief of staff, held a press briefing at the Blue House on the 7th and said, "As the president's special envoy for strategic economic cooperation, I will depart this evening with relevant ministries and domestic energy corporations to secure additional crude oil and naphtha, and will visit Kazakhstan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia."
Kang said, "To ensure that high-level government talks do not end as empty words, we are working closely with the corporations that will actually import oil and naphtha and will spare no necessary support until oil tankers or petroleum product carriers arrive at domestic ports," adding, "We are mobilizing all available policy tools so that medicines, medical devices, and medical products, for which supply instability has been raised in recent media reports, can be supplied stably."
Kang said, "On the 7th, we agreed with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to be supplied with 24 million barrels of crude oil on a priority basis ahead of other countries," and added, "In fact, crude oil and naphtha that departed from the UAE are arriving at our ports in sequence."
He added, "Given the structure of our economy, where dependence on imports via the Strait of Hormuz as of last year reached 61% for crude oil and 54% for naphtha, efforts to secure alternative supply lines are urgently needed until the situation in the Middle East is fully resolved."
Kang said, "For the 26 Korea-flagged vessels waiting inside the Hormuz area, we are devising measures to ensure safe passage through the strait on the premise that the safety of the crew on board is the top priority," adding, "Given the difficult energy supply situation, if people join in energy saving that can be practiced in daily life, the crisis can be overcome more smoothly."