Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Moon's 'talk with citizens' fails to restore public trust
President Moon Jae-in answers to questions from the citizens during a televised town hall meeting at KBS on Yeouido, Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
President says Korea touted as 'one of top 10 nations'
By Nam Hyun-woo
President Moon Jae-in held a “town hall meeting” Sunday to answer questions about his policies, but ended up facing criticism that he only shared blind optimism and fell short of suggesting tangible plans and measures to tackle pending issues during the remainder of his presidential term.
The event was televised live from broadcaster KBS's building where Moon took questions from 204 people who participated in person and 100 people joining online.
During the 100-minute “town hall,” the President apologized to the public for the government's real estate policies that failed to stabilize home prices in Seoul and its surrounding cities, but added his government has provided more homes than any other administration.
“I have apologized several times for the real estate issue, and I think it would have been better if the government had made greater efforts on real estate policies, especially the supply of homes,” Moon said. “However, our administration has provided more homes than any other, and there is a large number that will be offered soon. I believe the home supply and price issue will be addressed shortly.”
Moon continued that his government has been studying a number of policies to prevent a small number of speculators from raking in excessive profits from real estate investments, but did not mention taxation and loan regulations, which are also ascribed as one of the main reasons for soaring housing prices in Seoul and the metropolitan area.
The real estate issue has been one of the main factors behind Moon's lowered job approval rating in recent years. In the April 7 by-elections to pick mayors for Seoul and Busan, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea suffered crushing defeats, which were largely interpreted as public anger against his administration's housing policies.
“I feel sorry for failing with regard to real estate policies, which fell short of providing enough opportunities for the public, especially those who are young and newly married, to buy their own homes,” Moon said.
As to the jobless rate among young people, Moon commented: “The youth employment rate has recovered to almost pre-coronavirus pandemic levels.”
He admitted that what was more important than the “high” employment rate was the quality of jobs. However, he did not provide any tangible answers as to how his administration would supply “quality jobs” to the market.
President Moon Jae-in drinks water during a televised town hall meeting from a KBS studio on Yeouido, Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap
When asked about his plan on boosting the medical workforce and providing staff with proper incentives amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, Moon said, “The government will prepare well to prevent the medical workforce from being exhausted from their excessive workload,” but did not suggested any action plan for this.
In a wrap up speech, Moon noted that Koreans should be proud of their country, as it is now one of the top 10 in the world in terms of its economy, healthcare, democracy, and quarantining against the pandemic among others.
“I know some people will say I am praising myself, but it is an objective evaluation from the world,” Moon said. “The accomplishments were not achieved by our administration alone. It is an aggregation of all the achievements of previous governments and feats that the public have fulfilled. … If someone denies and disrespects this, it is not criticism of our government, it is criticism of the public.”
After the meeting, the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) commented that Moon was “like Don Quixote, who turns a blind eye to the public's difficulties and traps himself in an illusion.”
“There was no sincere apology from the President on the public pain incurred by the country's restrictive quarantine measures and delayed vaccination rollout,” PPP spokesman Lim Seung-ho said.
During the meeting, Moon said the government has signed a contract for oral COVID-19 treatments for 400,000 people and will introduce them in February. Also, he that the administration was now monitoring the outcome of vaccination trials for young children, and would lower the minimum age requirement if the vaccine used was proven to be safe.