First vice finance minister Bang Ki-sun pledged legal revisions and other followup measures to ensure that the latest livelihood stability plan leads to an actual decline in consumer prices.

At a meeting with officials on Friday, Bang called for a swift and effective execution of the plan, adding that the government has grave concerns over May inflation of five-point-four percent, the highest in 14 years.

Regarding state support, the vice minister raised the possibilty of tariff quotas to mitigate the impact of surging raw material prices and exempting the value added tax.

Bang promised to carefully manage prices of agricultural and livestock products during the volatile summer season, and to take necessary quarantine steps in the wake of reported cases of African swine fever in the eastern Gangwon Province.

The government will stock up on 34-thousand tons of napa cabbage, radishes, garlic and onions in preparation for possible deteriorating weather conditions in summertime.