South Korea's Lee says Middle East situation is "very urgent"
SEOUL, June 23 (Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Monday that the situation in the Middle East was "very urgent" and financial markets were becoming unstable due to increasing uncertainty.
Lee also called on his senior aides to prepare additional measures that could be incorporated into an extra budget already proposed if needed.
Major share indexes slipped in Asia on Monday and oil prices briefly hit five-month highs as investors anxiously waited to see if Iran would retaliate against U.S. attacks on its nuclear sites, with resulting risks to global activity and inflation.
"First of all, the situation in the Middle East is very urgent. I think that all ministries, including the presidential office, should prepare an emergency response system to promptly handle," Lee told his senior secretaries.
The president expressed concern that rising oil prices could lead to higher inflation that would take a toll on people's livelihoods.
Earlier on Monday, a vice industry minister flagged concerns over the potential impact on the country's trade from the recent U.S. strikes on Iran.
South Korea is Asia's fourth-largest economy and depends heavily on exports.
Seoul has deepened its reliance on crude oil imports from the Middle East, which accounted for 72% of the country's total crude imports in 2023.
Market participants are bracing for further oil price hikes amid fears that an Iranian retaliation may include the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global crude supply flows.
Lee had decided not to attend a NATO summit this week due to what his office described as uncertainties caused by the Middle East situation.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
32 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Shelter in place ordered for Americans in Qatar amid growing fears of Iran retaliation
The US Embassy in Qatar has ordered Americans in the nation to 'shelter in place' as fears grow of an Iranian retaliation to the US strikes on Saturday night. The Embassy warned Americans to seek shelter 'out of an abundance of caution.' It did not say how long the shelter in place order is expected to last. There are up to 15,000 American residents in Qatar, and the United States also has 19 military facilities in the Middle East nation. Qatar has served as an intermediary between the United States and Iran in the past and was coordinating negotiations over Iran's nuclear resources earlier this month before Israel ended the talks by attacking Iran on June 13. This is a developing story, check back for updates.
Daily Mail
32 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Iranian-Americans' praise Trump for bombing of their home nation
Iranian-Americans have backed President Trump's strikes on their home nation as they hope the intervention could trigger a revolt against the Ayatollah's regime. In Maryland, one of the largest Iranian communities in America where over 16,000 Iranian people live, residents have expressed a cautious optimism over the strikes. An Iranian-American DC resident called Alireza, who declined to give his second name, told the outlet that the news of Trump's 'bunker buster' bomb raid on three key Iranian nuclear weapon factories on Saturday night filled him with hope. He said world leaders in the past had ignored the oppression of the Iranian people at the hands of the regime, but after Trump's strikes, 'it shows that they can't do anything and they are weak.' Hashemi said that Iranian political identity has been 'deeply shaped by the fact that Iran has been on the receiving end and the humiliating end of external intervention.' '(This) created the social conditions for the 1979 revolution', he said, when the country's liberal shah was replaced by a hardline Islamic regime that remains in power to this day. Israel began bombing Iran last week in a bid to stop the country building nuclear weapons, after its leaders vowed to use them to obliterate Israel. On Saturday night, Trump dispatched B-2 bombers with huge 'bunker buster' bombs to try and destroy three nuclear weapons factories, including the infamous Fordow facility that sits buried under a mountain. Alireza and others hope that Trump's strikes will finally topple the country's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Pushing for regime change in Iran has long been avoided by US presidents, before Donald Trump on Sunday night stunned the Middle East again as he called to 'MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN.' In a shock post on Sunday night to Truth Social, Trump wrote: 'It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!' The message from the president directly contradicted remarks from his top allies just hours earlier, with Vice President JD Vance telling ABC: 'We don't want to achieve regime change. We want to achieve the end of the Iranian nuclear program.' A majority of Republicans support America's entry into the war - but there has been vocal criticism too, from leading MAGA figures including Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene and Steve Bannon. However, direct American intervention to end to the Ayatollah's regime is exactly what many Iranians in America are hoping for. Reza Rofougaran, a 72-year-old real estate broker in Maryland, told the Baltimore Sun that he emigrated from Tehran shortly after the 1979 revolution, and worked as a journalist in his home country before the regime censored his newspaper. After being randomly arrested on the street, he said he 'decided that no matter what, I'm going to leave the country and come back to the U.S.' He said he is '100 percent against the Islamic regime in Iran and hope for a regime change.' Rofougaran, a US citizen since 1997, added that he was unsure if American intervention would have the desired effect given past foreign policy struggles in the Middle East, and would 'prefer this regime goes down by the people of Iran themselves.' 'A good majority of Iranians' oppose the regime, he said, but at the same time they 'are saddened by these attacks.' 'I am not happy with any attack on my homeland,' he said. The divide between the desired outcome of regime change and skepticism over how to achieve it follows decades of US presidents floating strikes on Iran but backing down due to the risks involved, before Trump pulled the trigger on Saturday night. 'Unfortunately, no one helped us. Obama didn't help us. Biden didn't help us,' Rofougaran added. 'The current situation, actually, I'm sort of happy, that actually, Israelis start supporting Iranian people.' A National Iranian American Council survey of Iranian Americans shortly before Israel's strikes on Iran found that 53 percent strongly or somewhat opposed US military action. The number that strongly or somewhat supported American intervention stood at 36 percent. Trump's strikes did not target or kill any civilians in Iran. Experts say many Iranian-Americans fled to the US to escape persecution, with that life experience explaining their support for potential regime change. 'Many Iranian Americans are here fled the regime because of either economic deprivation or political persecution,' Nader Hashemi, the director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at Georgetown University, told the Baltimore Sun. Rofougaran said Iranians he has spoken to both in the US and his home country say they are 'happy' with the Israeli strikes 'because of the precise attack' that only killed or injured soldiers and no civilians. 'You are not attacking civilians, people. They are attacking the mullahs, the top [IRGC] commanders and the people in charge,' he said. Now, with the world waiting for Iran's response to the US strikes, he hopes the Iranian people will see the bombings as an opportunity to push for regime change. 'The whole thing is changing in 10 days,' he said. 'They want to have a peaceful government.'
Scotsman
33 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Industrial strategy 'will drive tens of thousands of new jobs in Scotland', as business power cut promised
Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Sir Keir Starmer's industrial strategy will "drive tens of thousands of new jobs" in Scotland, the Scottish Secretary has claimed. Ian Murray said the areas featured in the decade-long plan "are really a microcosm of the entire Scottish economy". The strategy includes specific funding to train people for work in defence, engineering, digital and construction roles. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scottish Secretary Ian Murray | PA Meanwhile, electricity costs for thousands of businesses will be cut by up to 25 per cent by scrapping green levies to help them compete with foreign rivals. The Prime Minister said the plan marked a 'turning point for Britain's economy' by supporting key industries where there is potential for growth. Launching the strategy on Monday at the site of the former Cockenzie power station in East Lothian, which is being redeveloped with UK government funding, Mr Murray said: "The big positive thing from a Scottish perspective is the eight sectors that are part of that industrial strategy, developed with business and sectors, are really a microcosm of the entire Scottish economy. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad What does the future hold for Cockenzie after its famous chimneys were brought down in 2016? "So whether it be defence, professional services, financial services, life sciences, AI, all of those kinds of parts of the Scottish economy are key. Scotland will drive a lot of this industrial strategy." Mr Murray added: "It's a really good news story for the Scottish economy and will drive tens of thousands of new jobs." 'Stifling growth' But Mr Murray argued policies pursued by the Scottish Government, such as its opposition to new nuclear power, risked stifling this growth. He pointed to the 10,000 jobs promised as part of the Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk. "That investment could be coming to Scotland, but it's currently not because of the de facto ban on nuclear here," Mr Murray said. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Likewise with defence. We have a very, very big defence footprint in Scotland. In fact, the SDR [strategic defence review] and the investment in defence will disproportionately benefit Scotland in terms of jobs and that growth. "We have to look at that as an economic opportunity. But if that is stifled, it's not going to happen." UK ministers target SNP over munitions UK ministers have criticised the Scottish Government's policy of not providing public funding for munitions. Sir Keir said the decade-long plan would deliver 'the long-term certainty and direction British businesses need to invest' during an 'era of global uncertainty'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He said: 'This industrial strategy marks a turning point for Britain's economy and a clear break from the short-termism and sticking plasters of the past.' The strategy's key areas The strategy focuses on eight areas where the UK is already strong and there is potential for further growth: advanced manufacturing, clean energy, creative industries, defence, digital, financial services, life sciences, and professional and business services. Manufacturers have warned 'crippling' power costs are far higher for UK businesses than competitors overseas. From 2027, a new British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme will cut costs by up to £40 per megawatt hour for over 7,000 manufacturing firms by exempting them from levies on bills including the renewables obligation, feed-in tariffs and the capacity market.
