[Exclusive] Yoon: "Let's Not Put on a Show... Policies Should Not Be Artificially Created"

Before the Live Broadcast of the Emergency Economic and Livelihood Meeting, a Request... President Yoon: "Let's Do It As Is"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] On the afternoon of the 27th, President Yoon Seok-yeol reportedly instructed his aides before the live broadcast of the Emergency Economic and Livelihood Meeting, saying, "Let's not put on a show, but show things as they are."

According to the Blue House and government ministries, President Yoon recently told some senior secretaries and ministers preparing for the live broadcast of the meeting, "Let's always prepare the Emergency Economic and Livelihood Meeting with sincerity and proceed as we have exchanged opinions before," adding, "Let's not artificially create or fabricate policies just because it is being broadcast live." A senior Blue House official explained, "The intention is to strengthen the government's will to overcome the economic crisis and convey sincerity to the public."

Before this meeting, the Blue House received some preliminary discussion materials from ministries but did not exchange opinions. A government ministry official also said, "The reports were concluded by briefly covering only the topics," adding, "Questions and answers will be conducted in real-time on-site."

The Emergency Economic and Livelihood Meetings, held weekly since early July, started just four days after President Yoon proposed to "directly oversee livelihood issues." These meetings have also been held on-site to listen to the voices of the people. The 10th meeting on the 7th was convened just two days after the 9th meeting. This was the first time the meeting was held twice in one week, reflecting the serious recognition of the recent economic situation.

In this live broadcast as well, President Yoon and his aides are expected to share their awareness of the economic crisis. As the meeting is held in the nature of an ‘Economic Revitalization Promotion Strategy and Review Meeting,’ it will be an opportunity to assess the economic situation amid the triple hardships of high inflation, high interest rates, and high exchange rates, as well as concerns about economic recession, and to seek revitalization measures by sector.

President Yoon will freely exchange various opinions with 11 ministers from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Employment and Labor, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and the Financial Services Commission chairman, along with about 20 participants including Blue House aides. A Blue House official added, "It will be a time to put our heads together with the president on how to respond to the current risks."

Some view this occasion, where the president personally discusses economic risk response measures with his aides, as a breakthrough not only to revive the weakened economic sentiment but also to escape the downward trend in approval ratings. According to a Realmeter survey commissioned by Media Tribune, conducted from the 17th to the 21st among 2,512 adults nationwide, President Yoon’s positive evaluation of his administration was 32.9%, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous week. Negative evaluations rose by 0.2 percentage points to 64.4%. In the Realmeter survey, President Yoon’s approval rating had fallen to 31.2% in the fourth week of September amid controversies such as the ‘profanity incident’ during overseas trips, then slightly rebounded for two consecutive weeks before slightly declining again after three weeks.

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