President Lee Myung-bak received the first round of 2009 policy briefings from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Financial Services Commission, and the Fair Trade Commission at Cheong Wa Dae Thursday (Dec. 18).

Annual briefings by government agencies to the President usually take place at the beginning of every year. But this time it was moved up to December in order to revive the sputtering economy as early as possible, presidential spokesperson Lee Dong-kwan said.

The Finance Ministry stressed in its briefing that it will accelerate budget spending as top priority next year. In an unprecedented way, about 60 percent of the next year''s budget will be spent during the first half in 2009 to boost private investment and domestic demand, the ministry said.

The Financial Services Commission said it will establish a 20 trillion won fund to help expand capital of nationwide banks and breathe life into local companies.

The Fair Trade Commission pledged to expedite corporate deregulation and enhance consumer rights by investigating unfair trade practices done by some public corporations.

President Lee asserted that civil servants should be aggressive in trying to turn the economic crisis into an opportunity. The government will take responsibility for the mistakes civil servants have made in the process of fulfilling their duties. But easy-going civil servants should not be allowed to gain profits from what they have not done, said the President.

"Many people think that civil servants are not devoting themselves to solving the financial crisis. But I don''t agree with them," the president said.

"People are talking about the experience about the IMF crisis in the late 1990s. But I don''t think it appropriate to apply solutions, which we used at that time, to the current economic crisis," said the President.

The second round of briefings will be given to the President by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, and the Ministry of Environment, on Monday (Dec. 22).