President Moon Jae-in speaks to the nation about his government’s new policies, at Cheong Wa Dae on Aug. 20. He is speaking alongside ministers, top presidential aides and more than 280 members of the Citizens Advisory Committee for Presidential Transition.

By Sohn JiAe

Photos = Cheong Wa Dae

The most worrying concerns among the 154,000 policy recommendations and opinions that the Citizens Advisory Committee for Presidential Transition collected between May 25 and July 12 have turned out to be job creation and the low birth rate. 

Focusing on these results, President Moon Jae-in reaffirmed his efforts to fight these two problems at a special event at Cheong Wa Dae on Aug. 20 where he outlined his government’s new policy measures. 

Calling job creation “one of the most crucial goals being pursued by the current government,” President Moon stressed that creating good jobs would bring hope to young people, and increase tax revenues and public consumption, which would then in turn lead to economic growth. 

As for requests from the public for a better employment environment and a more balanced work environment, where working parents would be able to balance both their careers and their families, the president responded by outlining his solutions: limiting the working week to 52 hours, allowing employees to use all their leave and allowing both parents to participate in childrearing. 

First lady Kim Jung-sook says that she will continue to assist her husband, as she has in his first 100 days in office, outlining some of the new government`s policies.

The president expressed his determination to continue listening to and directly communicating with the people. “Our new administration believes in working with the collective minds of the people; a way to ensure success in terms of governing state affairs. We will never stop communicating with and listening to the public, both on- and offline." 

Government ministers, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha, Minister of the Interior Kim Boo-kyum, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Do Jong-hwan, and top presidential aides including senior presidential secretary for social affairs Kim Su-hyun and senior presidential secretary for social innovation Ha Seung-chang, attended the event, together with about 250 people from the transition team. They all shared their plans to fine tune the policy recommendations made by the people. 

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