Presidential Statement Postponed

President Kim Dae-Jung will announce a special statement on 12th for the overcome of the national disaster of drought, which records the most disastrous one in the past 90 years, and will ask for the concentration of all national efforts.

To concentrate on the overcoming the disaster, the President will postpone the scheduled press conference for the national reformation. Instead, he will visit farmers and related officials who have struggled with the sizzling weather.

Presidential secretary Park Joon-Young said at a regular news briefing that it is inappropriate for the President to make a press conference for a political matter while the nation suffers from drought.

If the rain would not come until the end of this month, as Korea Meteorological Administration forecasted, a special measure is required. The government will support the farmers to overcome the disastrous drought, if necessary, by a revised supplementary budget.

Yun Seung-Mo ysmo@donga.com