By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
President Lee Myung-bak appears to be adjusting his state policy priorities to win more support from ordinary people and ideologically neutral citizens, amid dwindling popularity for the governing camp.
In recent weeks, he instructed his Cabinet to map out measures to drastically ease private education costs for parents, strengthen micro-credit banking services for low-income families and address ideological conflicts.
On Thursday, Lee visited a traditional marketplace in northeastern Seoul and talked with owners of small shops about their economic hardship.
The owners asked the government to protect mom-and-pop shops from supermarket chains and large discount stores.
Lee instructed officials at the scene to take measures to nurture traditional marketplaces and provide more financial support to small shop owners, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
The moves reflect a growing sense of crisis in the administration over a weakening base of support for Lee's policies, which critics say mainly serve the needs of corporate giants and the rich.
With local elections scheduled for June next year, some ruling party lawmakers caution that the conservative leader may become an early lame duck if his party fails to secure a majority of the seats up for grabs.
Analysts say the result of the elections will be regarded as a confidence vote for President Lee, and a barometer for the general elections and the presidential election slated for 2012.
In this regard, the ruling camp has an urgent need to improve Lee's public image and appeal to a wider base of voters, according to Shin Yool, a social science professor at Myongji University in Seoul.
``The government's project to refurbish four major rivers nationwide and the state-led corporate restructuring will erode fiscal soundness. As the local elections draw near, it may turn to various populist policies to regain support, putting the administration under a tighter budget,'' professor Shin said.
The presidential office said it has been a shared goal among senior officials to increase the number of middle-income earners and strengthen the social safety net for less privileged citizens.
``Some people allege that we are working only for the rich, but that is not true,'' presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said. ``We are trying to serve the needs of all classes of people. We've always kept the ordinary and underprivileged people in mind.''
In the coming months, President Lee plans to increase meetings with ordinary people in order to reflect their opinions better in state policies, the spokesman said.
A growing conflict between different ideological groups and a rising burden on parents for the private education of their children are also high priorities for the administration.
Cheong Wa Dae said it will set up a presidential council on social integration in August that will address ideological disputes, social conflicts and sexual discrimination. The council will include some 50 ``representatives from all walks of life'' to promote the common interests of diverse social groups, the office said.
President Lee has repeatedly said the administration will ``normalize'' college education, indicating an overhaul of the state-run college entrance exam.
Educational reform will emerge as top of the national agenda after the country sees an economic recovery, he said.