The presidential office said on the 12th that it decided to maintain the current emergency response posture until there is a clear declaration to end the war in the Middle East. Accordingly, the government will keep the resource security alert at "caution," continue the odd-even driving restriction for vehicles in the public institutional sector and the five-day rotation system at public parking lots. The United States and Iran held end-of-war talks on the 11th–12th (local time) but failed to reach a deal.
Spokesperson Jeon Eun-su stated accordingly at a briefing on the results of the Emergency Economic Issues Inspection Meeting chaired that day by Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom. Attending the meeting from the presidential office were the senior secretary for economic affairs, the fiscal policy adviser, the secretary for growth economy, and the secretary for economic security, and from government ministries were vice ministers from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the Ministry of Planning and Budget, as well as the vice chair of the Financial Services Commission.
Spokesperson Jeon said participants agreed that "given the outcome of the first round of talks between the United States and Iran and the latest situation, uncertainty surrounding our economy remains very high." Jeon also noted that "even if a cease-fire or a subsequent end of war is reached, it was reported that it will take a considerable period to normalize logistics and transportation and to repair Middle Eastern energy production facilities."
The presidential office and the government decided to maintain the current emergency response posture until there is a clear declaration to end the war. Accordingly, they said the president will continue to convene emergency economic inspection meetings, and the prime minister and the deputy prime minister for the economy will operate an emergency economic headquarters. They will also maintain a daily item-by-item monitoring traffic-light system for managing supply chains and prices. Spokesperson Jeon said, "Depending on how the situation unfolds, we plan to review additional measures such as banning hoarding and imposing emergency supply stabilization steps."
As international oil prices remain above the pre-crisis level of $70–$80 per barrel in the Middle East, the government plans to push policies to shift demand from passenger cars to public transit. A key step is expanding benefits for the K-Pass (Everyone's Card) public transit fare refund service. K-Pass has a basic type (percentage-based) that refunds a portion of spending when using public transit regularly, and a flat-rate type that refunds the amount of public transit spending exceeding a set threshold.
Spokesperson Jeon said, "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to finalize a system improvement plan that includes bold benefits such as raising the percentage-based refund rate by 30 percentage points for commuters using staggered hours and cutting the flat-rate refund threshold by 50%." Jeon added, "We aim to complete the system upgrade in early May, while pushing to apply the refund benefits retroactively from the April announcement."
In addition, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources will urgently coordinate with refiners and others so that the supply of naphtha can recover to the prewar level of 2.11 million tons per month. Related budget items were included in this supplementary budget, and if funds are exhausted early, the government will inject additional contingency reserve funds to minimize the impact on industry.