People communication to be improved after defeat
President Yoon Suk Yeol said yesterday he humbly accepts the public sentiment revealed in the parliamentary elections and will work to improve communication with the people.
Yoon made the pledge in his first public remarks on last Wednesday’s elections, in which his People Power Party won only 108 out of 300 seats in the National Assembly.
"We must all humbly accept the public sentiment revealed in the general elections," he said during a Cabinet meeting. "I will communicate more with a humbler and more flexible attitude, and be the first to listen carefully to the public sentiment."
The elections were seen as a stern judgment on the Yoon administration two years into its single, five-year term. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, presidential chief of staff Lee Kwan-sup and most senior presidential secretaries have offered to resign to take responsibility for the defeat.
Yoon, the first president since South Korea's democratisation to work with an opposition-controlled parliament for all five years of his term, has faced growing calls to revamp his running of state affairs and improve relations with the National Assembly.
"Although in the two years since my inauguration, I have looked only to the people and taken the path for our national interest, I fell short of the people's expectations," Yoon told his Cabinet in opening remarks broadcast live.
"Even though I set the right direction for state affairs and did my best to put it into practice, I believe I was lacking in creating change to the extent it could be felt by the people," he said.
Yoon especially noted a lack of care for struggling ordinary citizens, saying despite his administration's best efforts to tame inflation, improve fiscal health, increase the housing supply and protect retail stock investors, none of those measures were enough to address the fundamental needs of lower income citizens.
"In the end, however right the direction of state affairs may be and however many good policies we push for, if the people cannot feel real change, the government has failed to fulfill its role," he said. "I will step closer to the people and delve more deeply into people's livelihoods, listen to the difficulties in the field, and more actively take care of people's lives."
Yoon vowed to accelerate the implementation of policies that are helpful to the people while filling any gaps by collecting public opinion through townhall meetings.
He indicated, however, that he has no intention to back down from his plans to increase admissions to medical schools, an issue that has caused thousands of young doctors to walk off their jobs in protest, disrupting health care services since February.
"I will continue to pursue the three major reforms in labour, education and pensions, as well as medical reform, while paying closer attention to rational opinions," he said. "The government must fulfill its responsibility in areas where it can while cooperating closely and further with the National Assembly."
Yoon also addressed Iran's attack on Israel over the weekend, saying tensions in the Middle East can have a direct impact on South Korea's economy and supply chains, further exacerbating the suffering of ordinary citizens.