Yoon: "A Large Force Exists Claiming to Remove 'Freedom' from Liberal Democracy"

"Social Waste Due to Division and Conflict"

President Yoon Suk-yeol. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] President Yoon Suk-yeol stated on the 21st, "There are forces with large-scale opinions that argue for deleting ‘freedom’ from the current constitution’s liberal democracy, making it truly difficult to achieve stable integration in such a country."

President Yoon said this during his opening remarks at the Presidential Office in Yongsan at the strategy and performance report meeting of the Presidential Commission on National Integration, held in the afternoon. He added, "If the government grows exponentially and achieves economic leaps, we might see some form of integration occurring in that process."

President Yoon noted, "When social conflicts and divisions are severe, the precious productive value that we should enjoy through welfare is entirely consumed by fights caused by division and conflict, resulting in significant social waste."

He further stated, "Because future generations’ entitlements are often depleted as weapons in these conflicts, reducing social conflicts and divisions and uniting the people as one is extremely important for national development and overcoming crises."

The National Integration Commission has established the vision of "A United Korea, Our Country Korea" for national integration. It set four strategic goals: ▲Respect for diversity ▲Resolution of social conflicts and polarization ▲Realization of a community based on trust ▲Expansion of national integration values. To achieve these, eight tasks were finalized, including responding to demographic changes and mitigating generational and gender conflicts, improving political systems based on pluralistic democracy, restoring social mobility ladders, strengthening a dense safety net for the socially vulnerable, and fostering systems and cultures that respect diversity and inclusiveness.

Under the National Integration Commission, special committees such as the Suicide Crisis Overcoming Special Committee, Safe and Healthy Workplace Creation Special Committee, and the Accompaniment with Migrant Background Individuals Special Committee are planned to be sequentially operated in the first half of next year. Regarding youth policies, a Youth Political Participation Expansion Special Committee and a youth forum called Youth Madang within the National Integration Commission will be formed.

The achievements of the three special committees operated in the second half of this year were also disclosed. The Disability Mobility Convenience Promotion Special Committee prepared policies including the establishment of an integrated reservation system for disability call taxis, strengthening the role of metropolitan mobility support centers, expanding support for purchasing and modifying personal vehicles for the disabled, and increasing rental cars equipped with driving assistive devices and charter buses for wheelchair users. The Large and Small-Medium Enterprise Win-Win Special Committee proposed voluntary regulatory measures such as establishing autonomous win-win councils and social agreements, disclosing brokerage fees on online platforms, and providing incentives for sharing order trend information with small business owners. The Fandom and Democracy Special Committee is jointly reviewing fact-checking and legal and institutional improvement measures to counter fake news.

Kim Han-gil, Chairman of the National Integration Commission, said, "President Yoon is working tirelessly for the realization of the people's active freedom and happiness, incomparable to other presidents," and added, "National integration is a policy orientation and methodology that translates the president’s governance philosophy and passion into something tangible for members of our society." He continued, "We will work even harder with the belief that national integration is the path to a happy Korea and also the way to make President Yoon a successful president."

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