South Korean emergency steps to curb inflation

---

SEOUL, Mar 20 (AFP): South Korea today announced an emergency decision to lift import tariffs on 70 price-sensitive products including wheat and corn to help tame rising inflation.
The decision was made at a meeting of economic ministers chaired by President Lee Myung-Bak, the presidential office said.
The ministers also decided to freeze public utility charges including those for public transport and tap water, it said.
Lee and the ministers expressed concern over soaring prices of oil and other raw materials and agreed to identify 50 major products for intensive oversight, spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan told reporters.
The government will finalise a package of inflation-taming measures at a cabinet meeting next week, he said.
President Lee called for quick and effective steps to stabilise consumer prices, the spokesman said. Inflation reached an annual rate of 3.6 per cent in February, breaching the central bank's target range for the third month in a row.