Yoon Resumes Livelihood Activities... Likely to Personally Address 'Luxury Bag Controversy' This Month

[Image source=Yonhap News]

원본보기 아이콘

As the conflict between President Yoon Suk-yeol and Han Dong-hoon, the Emergency Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, enters a reconciliation phase, President Yoon has resumed the public livelihood discussion forums. The intention is to resolve the party and presidential office conflicts and accelerate efforts on public welfare to bring the conflict to an early close. It is also reported that President Yoon is actively considering directly addressing the controversy surrounding his wife Kim Geon-hee’s receipt of luxury handbags as early as this month.

On the 25th, President Yoon held the sixth public livelihood discussion forum under the theme "The 30-minute commute era, resolving transportation disparities." On the 22nd, he had missed a scheduled forum citing cold symptoms. There were many voices inside and outside the government expressing regret over the president’s absence that day. This was because the government had announced measures directly related to citizens’ lives, such as easing regulations to allow mandatory closures of large supermarkets twice a month on weekdays as well as holidays, and completely abolishing the terminal distribution law to encourage free subsidy competition among mobile carriers and agencies. It was said that the policy promotion effect would have been greater if the president had attended.

To dispel such concerns, at the sixth public livelihood discussion forum, President Yoon actively introduced measures to alleviate commuting traffic congestion in the metropolitan area and address transportation infrastructure issues in local regions. He promised the smooth progress of the Metropolitan Area Express Train (GTX) project and announced plans to promote express metropolitan rail services comparable to GTX in a total of four major metropolitan areas so that local regions can also enjoy high-speed express metropolitan rail services. Through the forum, he also listened attentively to the voices of the people.

President Yoon is also reportedly actively considering directly addressing the controversy surrounding Kim Geon-hee’s receipt of luxury handbags. A likely approach is to explain the issue during a New Year interview with a specific media outlet while outlining his vision for national governance. There is concern that missing the timing could worsen public opinion and negatively affect the general election, so the president’s direct explanation before the Lunar New Year holiday is being positively considered.

A presidential office official told Asia Economy in a phone interview on the day, "Our position remains that the controversy over Kim Geon-hee’s receipt of luxury handbags is an intentional ‘trap hidden camera’," adding, "We are in the final stages of deciding on the option for the president to make a direct statement."

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.