President Lee Jae-myung speaks while presiding over a meeting of senior secretaries and aides at the Blue House on the 20th. Reporter Kwon Wook
President Lee Jae-myung on the 20th warned government officials against complacency, saying past administrations had often lost public trust to lax discipline as early-term vigilance faded. “We must take this as a cautionary lesson so as not to repeat the same mistake,” he said.
Lee made the remarks at a meeting of senior secretaries and advisers at the presidential office. “Seen through the eyes of the public, there is still much that falls short or needs to move faster,” he said. He noted that more than 440 days had passed since his government took office. “Overall, that means a little over 20% of the term has gone by, and I think it has passed very quickly,” he said.
Lee said his administration had put state affairs back on track despite various difficulties at home and abroad in the early months, and had achieved major results, including laying the groundwork for a great national leap forward through initiatives such as the three mega-projects. “All of these achievements are thanks to you, the public servants who devote yourselves quietly and out of sight,” he said.
At the same time, he acknowledged shortcomings. “There have been many cases in which we failed to sufficiently consider the realities on the ground in people’s lives or whether the public could accept a policy during the policymaking process, and many cases in which the pace of implementation fell short of expectations,” he said. “I hope you will now steel yourselves anew, lace up your shoes again with the mindset of restarting the term, and devote all your energy to picking up the pace of state affairs,” he said.
He added that government ministries, as the central axis of state affairs, needed above all to act proactively, actively and preemptively. “The presidential office, too, must take on a particular sense of responsibility, communicate actively with the ministries, and support creative and fast-paced governance,” he said. “I ask all of you public servants to concentrate every capability you have on creating change that the public can feel,” he stressed again.
Lee called for uninterrupted reform to correct the foul play, unfairness and abnormalities that weigh down people’s lives. He named as targets requiring more focused action a set of practices that disrupt economic order — hoarding and speculative withholding, collusion, stock manipulation and fraudulent receipt of state funds — as well as digital sex crimes, serious industrial accidents, drugs and corruption in public office. “Reform takes on true meaning only when it leads to real improvement in people’s lives,” he said. “I hope you will gather the strength for uninterrupted reform, and further, for sustained reform of people’s livelihoods.”