Park calls for careful adjustment of monetary policy

President Park Geun-hye called Monday for a careful adjustment of monetary policies of advanced countries amid lingering worries over a potential Fed rate hike.

Last month, the U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates at near zero due to global headwinds but suggested that it could raise rates by the end of the year.

“The normalization of monetary policies of advanced countries should be adjusted in a careful and gradual manner by taking into account their impact on the world economy,” Park said in a session on the second and last day of the G-20 summit in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya.

An Chong-bum, senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, told reporters that a potential Fed rate hike was not on Park’s mind when she delivered her statement.

Park also proposed that members of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies coordinate their policies to stabilize the market in case that the market is destabilized.

“We need a global financial safety net that is robust and reliable,” Park said as she proposed that China, which is set to host the G-20 summit next year, to come up with an action plan on the global financial safety net.

Park and other world leaders endorsed measures on how to cope with base erosion and profit shifting issues facing many countries. BEPS refers to tax avoidance strategies employed by multinational companies that weaken a country’s tax base.

The move is expected to ensure that the so-called Google tax will be levied against multinationals that try to avoid paying their dues in countries where they make profits.

South Korean Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said South Korea took second place among the G-20 countries in terms of implementation of the growth strategies they laid out at the last year’s G-20 summit in Australia.

Last year, the world leaders set a goal to lift their combined gross domestic product by at least an additional 2 percent by 2018.

At the G20 summit in Australia, South Korea’s economic plan received a top rating from the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The G-20 summit is the world’s premier forum on economic issues, but terrorism and the refugee crisis were also high on the agenda at the summit following the deadly terror attacks in Paris.

Park, U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders condemned recent terror attacks in France and Turkey as they pledged to fight against terrorism at the end of the G-20 summit.

“We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the heinous terrorist attacks” in Paris and in Ankara, according to the G-20 statement on the fight against terrorism issued at the end of the summit. “They are an unacceptable affront to all humanity.”

It is the first time that the leaders of the G-20 countries have issued a separate statement on a political issue since the G-20 came into being.

They also vowed to tackle the financing channels of terrorism through enhanced cooperation, among other things, on exchange of information, freezing of terrorist assets and robust targeted financial sanctions regimes related to terrorism and terrorist financing.

“We call on FATF to identify measures, including those pertaining to legal framework, to strengthen combating of terrorism financing and targeted financial sanctions and implementation thereof,” the statement said, referring to the Financial Action Task Force.

Currently, South Korea is the chair of the inter-governmental policymaking body that sets standards and promotes the implementation of legal and regulatory measures against money laundering and financing of terrorism.

Park also called for a quick political solution to resolve instabilities in countries in transition such as Syria and Libya, saying the refugee crisis in Syria poses serious humanitarian challenges.

“South Korea will expand humanitarian assistance to countries that accept refugees,” to help resolve the refugee crisis, Park said, without elaborating.

The world leaders vowed to strengthen their support for all efforts to provide protection and assistance and to find durable solutions for the unprecedented numbers of refugees in various parts of the world.

“We call upon all states to contribute to responding to this crisis, and share in the burdens associated with it, including through refugee resettlement, other forms of humanitarian admission, humanitarian aid,” according to the G-20 leaders’ communique.

Park acted as a bridge builder between advanced countries and developing countries on the success of a new deal to combat climate change, according to Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea’s presidential office.

“We affirm that the Paris agreement should be fair, balanced, ambitious, durable and dynamic,” according to the communique released after the G-20 summit.

“We will instruct our negotiators to engage constructively and flexibly in the coming days to discuss key issues, among other things, mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer and transparency in order to arrive at Paris with a way forward.”

France is set to host a crucial U.N. Climate Change Conference later this month to try to produce a new legally binding deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say are to blame for global warming.

The deal is set to be applicable to all countries and seeks to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.

In June, South Korea offered to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent by 2030 from 850.6 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, an amount Seoul says it would reach if it lets business run as usual.

Also Monday, Park held a brief bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.

Park later left for the Philippines for a two-day summit of Asia and Pacific leaders. (Yonhap)