Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho expressed his concern for the Korean economy as China’s reopening has had only a limited impact, falling below expectations.

"The chip industry is yet to recover and the reopening of China, a country which we have a lot of trade with, has not shown much effect,” Choo said at a meeting held with the local business industry on Monday. Representatives of midsized businesses here attended the meeting, including Korea’s largest sauce maker Sempio Food.

"Though multiple indices related to the livelihood of the public such as inflation and labor are improving, the recovery of the chip industry has been delayed,” Choo said.

Choo stressed that the key to the economic recovery in the second half of the year lies in the exports and investments of businesses. The government has been projecting the economy will rebound in the latter half of the year as the global chip industry eases out of the slump.

“We will strengthen support for technology and process advancement so that midsized businesses, which are a crucial part of our economy, can adapt to the reshuffle of the global supply chain, transition to digital, green economy and the expansion of environmental, social and governance efforts,” Choo said.

The minister stressed the government has been actively supporting businesses through tax cuts.

“We will strive to renovate the economic regulations, removing hurdles for businesses,” he said. “If businesses can make more investments based on the tax support measures, it will greatly help the economic recovery.”

“Businesses should work on making their way in the global market through bold investments to ensure competitiveness,” Choo said.

Business representatives who attended the meeting called for the government to expand support to encourage domestic demand, secure human resources and to ease the burden on business succession.

Meanwhile, Choo is to meet with his Japanese counterpart Shunichi Suzuki this week in Tokyo. It is the first time in seven years for the top financial policymakers of Korea and Japan to hold an official one-on-one meeting. The two will discuss economic cooperation between the countries, including a currency swap deal that was terminated in 2015.