Anchor: President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday introduced yet another relief package, seeking to help the nation's key manufacturers ride out the recession brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak. The government believes a fresh injection of tens of trillion won will keep job losses at bay. 
Hong Suh-ryung has more. 

Report: President Moon Jae-in announced a massive relief package worth 40 trillion won, or roughly 32-point-three billion U.S. dollars, to help South Korea's steel, shipbuilding, auto, energy and airline industries amid the pandemic.

[Sound bite: President Moon Jae-in (Korean)]
"Now is the beginning of a crisis. Along with the corporate crisis, a tough job situation is fast approaching. It could create widespread shock in the job market that has not been experienced in a long time. We must reinforce government response measures and boldly react."  

Moon finalized the additional injection plan during the fifth emergency economic council session on Wednesday, in a bid to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from hurting the job market. 

[Sound bite: President Moon Jae-in (Korean)] 
"First, a 40-trillion won stabilization fund will be established to overcome the crisis and help employment for key industries. Core industries that greatly impact the economy and employment are being threatened. We are starting to see companies that cannot overcome difficulties just by temporary financial support or a liquidity injection."   

The emergency economic council also decided to inject an additional 35 trillion won to help ease the corporate liquidity crunch and set aside another 10 trillion won for emergency employment stabilization measures. 

The South Korean government had already devised aid packages totaling 150-trillion won. And Moon emphasized the need draw up a third supplementary budget to finance the latest aid programs.

This comes less than a week after the government submitted a bill to the National Assembly for a second extra budget to finance relief payments for 70 percent of households in the country.

It is the first time in 51 years for the South Korean government to prepare a third extra budget within a year.

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the third extra budget plan will be announced in early June. 
Hong Suh-ryung, KBS World Radio News.