(Unofficial translation)


Let me begin the year’s first Cabinet Meeting since the start of 2019.

I wish you all abundant New Year blessings. I hope we all start the New Year off with a renewed determination.

We are now facing a juncture when the Republic of Korea is structurally transitioning into an innovative, inclusive nation where we all prosper together. 

Moreover, an era of peace and new prosperity is being ushered in on the Korean Peninsula.

The entire civil service as well as the Cabinet ministers should retain an extraordinary commitment and serve as key players for change and innovation in order to forge ahead into uncharted territory.

The government ministers should implement brand-name policies that represent themselves and their ministries and agencies in a responsible manner so that the results can be presented to the public.

I urge all ministers to engage your staff and officials more so that ministries and agencies as a whole can share the governing philosophy and policy directions and work with one mind to produce fruitful results.

One thing I want to particularly emphasize is that those results should be felt and appreciated by the people in their daily economic activities and not remain simply as statistics in reports.

To that end, I ask you all to find solutions in the field.

My Administration’s first economic team set the agenda for what to do.

The second economic team should focus on how to meet those objectives.

The measures cannot be bound solely to reams of ministerial reports either. Instead, they may be hidden in the people’s daily lives, in the sweat of those working at the scene and in the crumpled notebooks of young startup owners.

I hope you will attentively listen to what they have to say as if they were your own relatives imploring you for help.

I hope you examine how the voices of each interest group differ on every policy and manage to come up with measures to reconcile these opposing positions at the sites where policies are actually implemented.  

Daunting challenges lie ahead of us this year. However, this is precisely why we have to work with enhanced confidence. If I and all the ministers and vice ministers bring our minds together as one team and make joint efforts, we will surely be able to show the people good results. 

One thing I would like to request in particular is to communicate with the people and promote publicity. The objective of government policies and systems is to bring conveniences and benefits to the public. When the people have a firm grasp of government policies, their acceptance will increase, which in turn will provide us with more momentum. 

Just working hard and silently producing results is not enough. It is necessary to make corresponding efforts to promote the public's embrace of policies by explaining how they bring conveniences and benefits to the people from their perspectives while publicizing policy achievements. 

When false information surfaces, such as fake news to unjustly distort and denigrate government policies, it’s important to provide the people with full-throated, prompt explanations that leave no misunderstanding. The Government has to resolutely deal with the persistent and systematic circulation of fake news. 

These days the circulation of information is very fast. In particular, fake news and other fabricated disinformation spread even more quickly because of their sensational nature. Therefore, I hope everyone will pay keen attention to the important role that speed plays in initial responses.

It’s also important to consider the best way to respond and carry out public relations. I ask each ministry to set up channels exclusively responsible for professional communication and public relations. 

At today’s meeting, a decision will be made on the promulgation of the amendment to the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The law is intended to protect employees who work in poor conditions. 

The regrettable death of a young non-regular worker has hurt the conscience of everyone. I believe that putting legal safety measures in place and taking thorough steps to prevent any such recurrence will ensure that his sacrifice will not be in vain.  

It is very meaningful to break away from a management style that places profits over lives and to prevent the outsourcing of dangerous tasks. Likewise, it is significant that the safety net has been extended under individuals who currently bear hazards in safety blind spots in jobs held by non-regular contract employees and digital platform labor, which often involves the self-employed.

I hope that this will become an opportunity to increase competitiveness and productivity by creating a safe operational environment and an enjoyable workplace. At the same time, we must seek countermeasures to support businesses as it is likely to place more burdens on them. 

Among the regulatory sandbox bills passed last year in the National Assembly, decisions will be made today regarding enforcement ordinances in amendments for the information and communication convergence law and the industrial convergence law, both of which are scheduled to take effect January 17. 

This is to arrange systemic measures that will allow businesses to introduce new technology and services in the market or test them in a real environment without being restrained by existing regulations during the launch. 

Regulatory innovation is a base essential for breathing vitality into our economy and securing growth engines. 

I ask you to find ways to ensure that the regulatory sandbox succeeds and to help businesses easily and actively utilize the system.