President Moon's New Year's Meeting Without Heads of the Four Major Companies

Event scaled down due to COVID-19, held as 'online video conference'... Five key figures, ruling and opposition leaders, Park Yong-man, Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce attend

[Asia Economy Reporters Ryu Jeong-min and Kang Na-hum] President Moon Jae-in held the New Year's greeting meeting for the Year of the Ox on the 7th, but unlike last year, he did not invite the heads of the four major conglomerates or Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl. The Blue House explained that the scale was reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kang Min-seok, spokesperson for the Blue House, stated, "This year's New Year's greeting meeting under the theme 'A Nation Strong in Crisis, a Reliable Republic of Korea' was held in the form of an online video conference considering the inconvenience caused to all citizens by social distancing." The video conference included the five key government figures, leaders of both ruling and opposition parties, as well as representatives from nationwide merchant and small business organizations, economic sectors, religious groups, and civil society.

The Blue House held a New Year's greeting meeting at the Korea Federation of SMEs in 2019 with about 350 attendees, and in 2020, the event was held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry with about 260 participants. Last year, the heads of the four major conglomerates, including Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics, attended, but this year they were not included.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Power institution heads such as the Prosecutor General and the Commissioner of the National Police Agency, who were invited to last year's New Year's greeting meeting, were also excluded from this year's list. Instead, eight ordinary citizens, including hero Gu Chang-sik who saved 18 residents at the Ulsan mixed-use complex fire site, were specially invited to symbolize 'a nation strong in crisis.'

Meanwhile, a public opinion poll released on the same day showed that negative evaluations of President Moon's administration exceeded 60% for the first time. Positive evaluations also fell for the third consecutive week, hitting a record low. The ruling party, the Democratic Party of Korea, also saw a decline in support, widening the gap with the People Power Party.

Realmeter announced that, based on a survey commissioned by YTN conducted from the 4th to the 6th, President Moon's approval rating (positive evaluation) dropped by 1.5 percentage points from the previous week's aggregate to 35.1%. This is the lowest since the current administration began.

Negative evaluations rose by 1.3 percentage points from the previous week to 61.2%, marking the first time this figure has exceeded 60%. Support for the People Power Party increased by 2.1 percentage points to 32.5%, while the Democratic Party's support fell by 1.1 percentage points to 28.6%. However, the gap between the two parties was 3.9 percentage points, within the margin of error.

The survey contacted 37,438 voters aged 18 and over nationwide, with 1,505 completing the response, resulting in a response rate of 4.0%. The sampling error is ±2.5 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, refer to the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.