Moon to focus on communication in latter half of term
Town hall meeting planned for Nov. 19
As President Moon Jae-in marked the halfway point of his single fiveyear term Sunday, his top aides stressed that changes taken to build a new Korea, including a peaceful peninsula, will continue.
“The remaining two and a half years of the Moon administration will be a period devoted to realizing the country’s new leap forward,” Moon’s chief of staff Noh Youngmin said in a press conference Sunday at Cheong Wa Dae. “We will communicate with the people more and undertake our duties with a more humble attitude. We will establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, and invest more in future industries. We will also work toward social reforms for more justice and aim for a country where everyone lives well.”
Noh was joined by Kim Sang-jo, chief of staff for policy, and Chung Eui-yong, chief of the presidential National Security Office (NSO) and the President’s key man for dealing with North Korea.
Kim Hyon-chong, second deputy director of the NSO who has been leading Korea’s responses to the bilateral row with Japan, was also in attendance.
Chung touched on the ongoing Korea-Japan row and the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), which will expire on Nov. 23 if Korea finalizes its decision not to renew the pact with Japan.
“From our point of view, the reason for the worsening of bilateral relations is fundamentally owing to Japan,” Chung said “We have repeatedly explained that we will reconsider the GSOMIA extension if bilateral relations are normalized.”
He reiterated that the impact on national security of ending GSOMIA would be “limited.”
Cheong Wa Dae signaled that “communication” will be among the most important keyword in the remainder of Moon’s presidency. The President himself will hold a town hall meeting on Nov. 19.
On Sunday morning, the presidential office announced that Moon will appear in a nationally televised discussion with 300 citizens for 100 minutes on MBC. Anyone can register on the MBC website to take part in the event and ask any questions, according to the presidential office.
“I will prepare wholeheartedly for a frank and unreserved conversation with the people,” Moon said in a statement delivered by his spokeswoman Ko Min-jung, Sunday. Ko added, “The town hall meeting will enable the exchange of ideas with the people on various policies.”
The President has been increasingly criticized this year for failing to respond to the criticisms over his management of state affairs. In particular, Moon has been urged to respond to the rising calls to mend the divide in Korean society following the scandal involving his trusted aide and former Justice Minister Cho Kuk. Although Cho left the post last month, the rallies in support of and against the Moon administration are still taking place in various parts of Seoul, showing the deepening rift over Moon’s push for judicial reform and other key policies. Moon has been silent about the protests, except to say they were a show of “advanced democracy.”
Another sign of Moon’s focus on communication came with his dinner late Sunday with the leaders of major political parties. Cheong Wa Dae said there will be no briefing on the closed-door dinner and that it was organized mainly to thank the party leaders for their condolences on the recent passing of Moon’s mother. The presidential office and parties said the dinner was arranged hastily and that they had not coordinated the topics of discussion. But it was largely expected that they would discuss various current issues, including GSOMIA and reform of the prosecution.