President Lee Jae Myung said Friday inflation is the government’s most urgent policy challenge and urged officials to devise extraordinary measures to stabilize prices and ease the burden on households. Lee made the call during a meeting with senior presidential aides, noting it will take a long time before global energy supply chains return to normal and the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened despite a ceasefire deal between the United States and Iran aimed at ending the monthslong war in the Middle East. “The high oil prices, inflation and heightened foreign exchange rate volatility triggered by the war have done significant damage to our economy,” Lee said. “The most urgent task right now is prices. Both the presidential office and the government must mobilize all available means to stabilize prices and restore the people’s livelihoods,” he added. Though the pace of price growth has been managed through the oil price cap system and other preemptive responses, there are still many areas that require attention, Lee said, calling for “extraordinary measures” to normalize petroleum produc
