ⓒYONHAP News

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday visited Namdaemun Market in downtown Seoul, which is suffering a drastic decline in customers amid the new coronavirus outbreak.

Moon toured the traditional market, greeting citizens who never expected to meet the president there. He also had lunch with merchants, and used the media opportunity to send a message to the Korean public.

"Traditional markets are struggling nowadays and now they're being hit hard by the new coronavirus outbreak. What's most important as a fundamental solution, rather than government support measures, is getting citizens to shake off excessive fear and return to their normal daily lives, especially their economic and consumption activities."

Namdaemun attracts some four million foreign tourists a year but store owners at the market told the president that people are afraid of walking around crowded places amid the disease outbreak.

"Nobody has been infected just by brushing past someone. And even if you are somewhere an infected person has been, experts say it is completely safe if it's disinfected properly. If citizens are overly worried and avoid traditional markets, it won't help our economy."

A local think tank has projected that if the new coronavirus spreads as widely as the 2015 MERS outbreak, it could result in a plunge of up to one-point-65 million tourists to South Korea.

Global investment bank Morgan Stanley said in a recent report that the outbreak could lower South Korea's overall economic growth in the first quarter by as much as one-point-seven percentage points. It noted that the suspended production facilities in China are affecting supply chains around the world.

President Moon on Thursday also met business leaders of Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Company, SK, LG and CJ groups, promising tax breaks and deregulation measures to ensure their investment and employment efforts.