Acting President Choi Sang-mok discussed South Korea’s economy and key policy matters with a visiting delegation from the global credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings on Friday. 

Choi stressed that the economy is making active efforts to secure future growth engines, saying the National Assembly recently passed the so-called K-Chips Act to boost the tax credit for facility investment in the semiconductor sector by five percentage points. 

He also noted that the government plans to create a 50 trillion won, or 34-point-four billion U.S. dollar, fund to support advanced industries such as semiconductors, rechargeable batteries and artificial intelligence.

Responding to the delegation’s questions about South Korea’s polarization problem, Choi said that since the launch of the incumbent government, the income distribution index has improved thanks to the restructuring of expenditures and efforts to strengthen the social safety net. 

While acknowledging that the level of inequality actually felt by the people has not improved significantly, Choi said the government is seeking to find structural solutions to improve social mobility. 

The S&P officials are visiting the country for the consultations to set the sovereign rating.