Yoon Skips Q&A on Commute During Eulji Exercise... Strengthens Promotion and Doorstepping Measures

Signs of Change in the Promotion Line Revamp

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Ki-min Lee and In-ho Yoo] Interest is focused on the background as President Yoon Suk-yeol skipped the ‘doorstepping’ (brief Q&A on the way to work) immediately after replacing the presidential office’s chief of public relations. It is unusual that President Yoon, who had strongly expressed his intention to continuously promote doorstepping, did not engage in Q&A with the press while arriving at the Yongsan Presidential Office building. Although it was to handle major schedules such as the Ulchi exercise, there is also an interpretation that the new chief of public relations might be planning to revise the doorstepping practice first.

On the morning of the 22nd, President Yoon did not conduct Q&A with reporters while arriving at the presidential office. The only other two occasions when President Yoon skipped doorstepping while arriving at the Yongsan Presidential Office were on May 21, the day of the Korea-US summit, and in July when COVID-19 began spreading among presidential office reporters. A presidential office official explained, "Doorstepping was not conducted because President Yoon was preparing for the Ulchi Cabinet Meeting held on the first day of UFS."

However, with the reinforcement of the public relations line, including the appointment of former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Eun-hye as the new chief of public relations, there is an interpretation that the presidential office might be trying to change the doorstepping style, which is a symbol of President Yoon. Since his inauguration, President Yoon has expanded communication by responding to reporters’ questions on his way to the Yongsan Presidential Office, receiving both positive evaluations for increased communication and negative evaluations for causing misunderstandings. Because of this, there have been proposals within the presidential office to abolish doorstepping.

Some speculate that doorstepping will be reorganized and then resumed. A typical method would be for the spokesperson’s office or Chief Kim to provide supplementary explanations after President Yoon’s remarks. Chief Kim, who served as the head of public relations for the People Power Party’s central election committee during the last presidential election and as President Yoon’s spokesperson during his president-elect period, is credited with reducing public misunderstandings and increasing understanding by providing supplementary explanations to President Yoon’s brief remarks. Additionally, the frequency of chief briefings is likely to increase alongside existing spokesperson and deputy spokesperson briefings. Another presidential office official said, "Since Chief Kim was appointed just the day before, they are currently reviewing the duties of the public relations office and possible future changes in public relations methods, so nothing has been finalized yet," but added, "Specific changes can be expected soon."

On the same day, the Korea-US military authorities officially began the UFS joint exercise. Since 2019, the government exercise (Ulchi), which had been conducted separately from the Korea-US joint exercises focusing on non-military crises such as disasters, has been integrated with the first phase of the military exercise and will be conducted over three nights and four days. The government and military plan to strengthen surveillance and readiness against North Korean provocations such as missile launches during this exercise period.

At the Ulchi Cabinet Meeting held at the presidential office that morning, President Yoon urged cabinet members, "Please participate in this exercise with the determination to maintain government functions without wavering in any national crisis, support military operations, and take responsibility for the safety of the people," calling for organic cooperation between the military and government. He emphasized, "According to the changing nature of warfare, attacks could be made on key national facilities such as information and communication facilities, ports, airports, nuclear power plants, and semiconductor production facilities. This Ulchi exercise will be a starting point for reorganizing our government’s emergency preparedness in line with the changing nature of warfare."

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