President Moon Jae-in gave his first New Year press conference at Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday. The event was different from others during previous administrations in that the President took random questions from the press.
This unique aspect of Moon’s New Year press conference received favorable responses from international and local media. “A welcome development from Moon Jae-in: this press conference is a free-for-all. Journalists are not pre-selected to ask questions, unlike previous administrations,” Anna Fifield, Tokyo bureau chief for the Washington Post, wrote on Twitter.
The domestic media also had mostly good things to say about Moon’s interaction with reporters. It was noteworthy that the President chose to take questions not just from major news outlets but also less influential ones, such as provincial newspapers. However, the open exchanges between the President and the press could not make up for some of the shortcomings of his job so far. He has failed to give Koreans more confidence about his administration’s capacity to improve their lives. Despite his focus on being the “jobs president,” the youth unemployment rate reached a record high last month since 2000, with 9.9 percent of people aged between 15 and 29 being out of work.
The main focus of the President’s New Year message was improving the people’s lives as he devoted much of his 20-minute speech to the subject.
Moon is right to show more determination to focus on the economy as Koreans are facing some of the most troubling times since the financial crisis of the late 1990s. Many people are struggling to find jobs and even those who are employed are having a rough time making ends meet, with stagnant wages and rising living costs. Under these circumstances, more Koreans across all generations are feeling hopeless and becoming cynical about the government’s ability to turn things around to make the nation a better place to live.
The President failed to give a detailed explanation about policies regarding some of the most crucial challenges, including job creation and population issues, such as the declining birthrate and aging society. There was also not enough mention about some of the issues working families are most interested in, such as education, real estate and health care.
Many people are becoming increasingly doubtful about Moon’s overly ambitious welfare pledges. Koreans are expected to face a considerable tax hike this year, including the National Health Insurance fees.
We hope that the President will arrange meetings with journalists in the future more regularly. During such occasions, he should provide concrete explanations about how he plans to improve the people’s lives.