Young people react negatively to Moon's 'fairness' message

President Moon Jae-in and members of K-pop boyband BTS pose for photographs with a time capsule for future youth to be opened 19 years later, during the inaugural Youth Day ceremony at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Saturday. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

President Moon Jae-in stressed the government's commitment toward a fair society in a speech apparently targeting young people to assuage their frustration at various government policies and scandals where fairness issues have been raised.

But his message is not gaining much traction with the younger generations who say such a message is meaningless without real policy changes. They said they are seeing unfairness in almost every sector of society, with scandals surrounding high-ranking officials who are close aides to the President.

In the speech for the inaugural Youth Day, Saturday, Moon used the word “fair” 37 times.

“We hear the rage from young people who say that unfairness persists,” he said.

“We will push policies that meet the expectations of the young and reflect their views, so they can follow their dreams and take on challenges from a foundation of opportunities and fairness.”

He especially promised to seek fairness in employment, education and military service ― sectors that young people react sensitively to, and the ones that recent scandals have involved. He did not mention specific cases, but his speech implied the government's controversial plan to make irregular security workers regular ones at Incheon International Airport Corp., former Justice Minister Cho Kuk's alleged use of influence to help his children get admitted to prestigious universities, and current Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae's alleged influence peddling to help her son get favors during his mandatory military service.

However, young people did not react positively to his promises.

“There have been hardly any changes during the past three years. President Moon has been emphasizing fairness since taking power, but even more unfairness has been brought in society. It is a problem that the current administration doesn't even have a clear sense of what unfairness is,” said Yang Myung-han, 32, an office worker in Seoul.

Some were also upset over the Incheon airport employment situation, where the government sought to realize Moon's pledge of “zero irregular workers” by making security staff permanent employees, which drew a strong backlash from young people who said the decision deprived many jobseekers of an opportunity.

“What I heard from my friends who are in their 30s was that they were feeling deprived seeing the Incheon airport operator's decision,” said another office worker in Seoul, surnamed Park, 31. “I think government's policies give the public the negative impression that they are not giving fair opportunities to young people.”

While the attendees of the inaugural Youth Day ceremony at Cheong Wa Dae included the seven-member K-pop superstar group BTS, 29-year-old office worker Kim Sun-hyeong said she wanted the President to present real policy changes rather than focusing on events.

Go Seong-woo, a 26-year-old college student, said, “It would be nice if there were practical alternatives to establish a culture that eliminates unfairness, instead of empty discussions on the abstract values of fairness. I hope there will be more opportunities for sound discussions and education in which people talk about how they can maintain a sound social system.”

Office worker An So-young, 30, said she hopes the government does not forget to make policies efficient by focusing on realizing fairness for fairness's sake, which is unrealistic.

The opposition parties were also skeptical of Moon's speech.

The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) said the President was unqualified to talk about fairness.

“For the last three years and four months, we've enough seen the President expressing willingness to achieve fairness. People are experiencing unfairness not because he has not talked about fairness,” PPP spokeswoman Rep. Kim Eun-hye said in a statement Sunday.

Rep. Kim said repeated speeches on fairness would be hollow if scandals involving ruling bloc figures, like Cho and Choo, are allowed to continue.

Choi Young-il, a political commentator and adjunct professor at Kyung Hee Cyber University, said the Moon government must bring about practical policy changes as it enters the latter half of its term.

“The timing of the Youth Day ceremony was a bit tricky when young people were feeling unhappy about series of scandals surrounding Moon's aides including Cho and Choo,” Choi said. “The government now needs to present policies that make the young feel there are real and practical changes in all sectors including employment.”

According to a survey by Gallup Korea, Friday, 45 percent of 1,000 respondents approved of Moon's job performance, while 45 percent disapproved. Among the latter, 17 percent cited problems in personnel management, implying the Choo scandal has affected their opinion.

In another survey by Realmeter, Wednesday, 49 percent of 500 people said Choo should step down, while 45.8 percent disagreed with this. But among those in their 20s, 56.8 percent called for the minister's resignation, higher than the average.