South Korea's president calls for 'all possible measures' to help virus-hit economy

South Korea President Moon Jae-in said on Tuesday the government should make an all-out effort to boost the economy as it comes under pressure from a coronavirus outbreak. "(The government) shouldn't quibble over whether anything is unprecedented or not, rather, we should take every possible measure we can think of on the table to deploy them," Moon said in a cabinet meeting.

Moon said the economy is in an emergency situation and needs a boost to stimulate domestic demand. In 2015, South Korea drew up a supplementary budget to help cushion the economy from the effects of an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).