South Korean President Lee Myung-bak instructed his government Thursday to closely monitor growing political unrest in the Middle East and map out strategies to counter its fallouts, according to Lee's office Cheong Wa Dae.
Lee was presiding over an emergency meeting with his economic and diplomatic teams to discuss ways to minimize the impacts of rapidly spreading political upheaval in the volatile region.
"(The government) should use every possible means to protect our people and workers at companies operating there," Lee was quoted as saying by his spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung.
Popular uprisings in the region started in Tunisia and spread to Egypt, toppling the countries' decades-old dictatorships. A bloody anti-government movement is now gripping Libya amid reports of as many as 1,000 deaths.
In particular, the tumult in Libya, where 1,398 South Koreans reside and two dozen South Korean construction firms operate, has raised concerns here. A spike in oil prices is also worrisome, as the Middle East accounts for about 80 percent of South Korea's oil imports.
The president ordered real-time checks on the impact to the domestic economy from hikes in oil prices and measures to reduce waste in energy use, the spokeswoman said.
South Korea has already formed an inter-governmental task force with regard to the Libyan crisis. A full-scale evacuation of South Koreans in the nation by air is set to begin later in the day.