President Slow to Read What Public Had in Mind
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
One hundred days are not long enough to evaluate the effectiveness of presidential leadership, said a governing party lawmaker.
Rep. Jeong Tae-keun of the Grand National Party (GNP) said he believes Lee was slow to read what the public had in mind regarding key agendas.
``These two factors ― Lee being in the top job about 100 days and his poor communication with the people ― are probably the leading causes that drove him to face the stalemate in key agendas such as the resumption of imports of U.S. beef and a free trade agreement with the United States,'' Jeong said in an interview with The Korea Times early this week.
Jeong, 45, was first elected to the National Assembly in a Seoul district in the April 9 elections after he twice ran unsuccessfully in previous elections. He worked with President Lee as vice mayor for political affairs of Seoul when Lee served as mayor of the capital.
Jeong said Lee should create more opportunities to sit down with his opponents such as farmers and unionists to exchange what he has in mind and find out what his opponents' expectations are.
``Some people describe Lee as a maverick, but the characterization does not fit who Lee is,'' Jeong said. ``Lee listens carefully to his opponents and keeps his options open when his counterpart suggests a convincing alternative.''
He observed both the GNP and the presidential office were responsible for what he called a communication gap, which hampered their reaching an agreement on issues such as food aid to North Korea.
In a meeting with presidential aides that took place two weeks ago, governing party leaders claimed Seoul should offer food to Pyongyang immediately as many residents in the North are suffering from a severe food shortage. Presidential secretaries responded that the government would wait to see if the difficult situation is real and would react if it is found it to be true.
Jeong said when it comes to humanitarian assistance to the North, the South needs to be more active than before.
``Once the policy channel between the presidential office and the governing party is set in motion, these problems will be resolved,'' he said.