Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Ceremony set for Friday to mark launch of Lee gov't
President Lee Jae Myung delivers his address at his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul, June 4. Korea Times photo by Koh Young-kwon
By Anna J. Park
Main opposition party condemns event as ‘self-coronation’
The presidential office will hold an event Friday at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul where dignitaries and citizens can celebrate the launch of the Lee Jae Myung government.
Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said Thursday that the event, dubbed a “people’s appointment ceremony,” is intended to celebrate the beginning of the “people’s sovereignty government,” formed through the public’s resilience against “unlawful martial law and insurrection.”
The event, which coincides with the 80th anniversary of Korea’s Liberation Day, was planned because Lee’s inauguration on June 4 took place without the usual ceremony featuring dignitaries from home and abroad as well as citizens. Lee took office just one day after winning the snap presidential election, bypassing the typical two-month transition period.
"During the ceremony, 80 citizen representatives will present the president with certificates of appointment they have authored themselves, symbolically designating him as the people’s faithful servant,” Kang said.
An additional 3,500 citizens, selected through an online lottery, have been invited to attend. The event will be broadcast live on KBS.
“President Lee will convey his gratitude and reaffirm his commitment to serving as the loyal worker of Korea’s sovereign people,” the spokesperson added.
All former presidents, except Yoon Suk Yeol, have been invited. While former presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye will not attend mainly because of health reasons, former President Moon Jae-in and his wife, as well as family members of the late President Roh Moo-hyun, are expected to participate, along with religious leaders and figures from the political, economic and labor sectors.
Commenting on the absence of conservative former presidents, Kang noted that although health issues may prevent their attendance, the ceremony’s significance lies in the symbolic act of the people appointing their president, making it a celebration.
Song Eon-seog, center, interim leader of the People Power Party, speaks at the party’s headquarters in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
Song Eon-seog, interim leader of the main opposition People Power Party, criticized the ceremony as a “self-coronation,” stressing that it was not the time for displays of power. He underscored that the conservative party would not participate.
“President Lee, who already held his official inauguration at the National Assembly on June 4, is now holding another ceremony on Friday under the name of a ‘people’s appointment ceremony.’ It is hard to understand why he would stage a self-inauguration on such a meaningful day — a day meant to celebrate the joy of liberation and honor our patriotic martyrs,” Song said during the party’s meeting.
He added that the current circumstances do not warrant celebrating a presidential victory with fanfare, questioning whether it is appropriate given the country’s challenging economic situation.
Parts of Sejong-daero are closed to traffic in Jongno District in central Seoul, Tuesday, due to large-scale Liberation Day events scheduled for Friday and rallies expected to draw tens of thousands of participants. Yonhap
The ceremony is set to take place at Gwanghwamun Square starting at 8 p.m., with around 10,000 citizens expected to attend.
In preparation, police will deploy 102 riot police units and more than 6,500 officers across central Seoul. The heightened security reflects both the scale of the ceremony and the various planned rallies and demonstrations, as hosting such a large presidential event in an open, publicly accessible space is considered unusual.
From 6 a.m. Friday until midnight the following day, all lanes in both directions will be closed, from Jeokseon rotary through Gwanghwamun rotary to Sejong-ro rotary, in downtown central Seoul.