Chairman Lee Eog-weon of the Financial Services Commission presided over a meeting with officials from related authorities and organizations on March 3 to review financial market situations amid growing geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East. At the meeting, Chairman Lee said that the Korean economy and financial markets are equipped with stong fundamentals and that the government has an adequate capacity to deal with current market situations. While closely monitoring market conditions, Chairman Lee emphasized that the government will be ready to employ contingency market stabilization measures if it becomes necessary. Additionally, to assist Korean SMEs and MMEs doing business in the affected region, Chairman Lee said that policy financial institutions should promptly make available financial support programs (total KRW13.3 trillion) in the form of loans and interest rate reductions. The FSC and related organizations will operate a market monitoring system around the clock for real-time sharing of information until the situation becomes stabilized.