President Moon Jae-in (center) speaks to non-regular workers at Incheon International Airport on May 12 where he highlighted his new administration`s focus on job creation. Hearing his words, one non-regular worker (right) begins to shed tears.

By Jeon Han and Yoon Sojung

Photos = Cheong Wa Dae 

May 12, 2017 | Cheong Wa Dae 

“Jobs.”

Jobs and employment have become the first item on President Moon Jae-in`s calendar.

The president visited Incheon International Airport on May 12 to begin his list of duties, where he met with non-regular workers at the international transportation hub.

Sitting down with 54 non-regular workers at the airport, the president listened to the difficulties they live with on a day-to-day basis.

As the workers told the president their stories, one worker among them burst into tears. When she was asked what she wanted to say to the president, she said, “I feel embarrassed because I didn`t mean to cry, but I feel so sad because many workers here at the airport are like my family members and have many difficulties.” 

“Your visit has given us hope, which makes me feel hopeful and emotional,” she said. “Please embrace us. We`re good workers at the airport, who do our best at work,” she said.

After listening to seven temporary workers, President Moon said, “The issue of temporary work causes economic inequality and polarization. It hampers social integrity and becomes an obstacle to achieve economic growth.”

“Our new government has set a goal of creating jobs to improve the quality of life for the people and to revitalize the economy. To do so, we first need to solve the non-regular workers issue,” said President Moon. 

“I believe the government and the public sector should be a good model, so special measures should be made in the public sector to help solve the non-regular workers issue,” said the president. 

“I vowed to solve this issue within my term, so as a first step I will usher in an era of zero non-regular workers in the public sector,” said President Moon. 

“Here, we have ministers present,” President Moon said, pointing to Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Ki-Kweon, to Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kang Ho-in and to the newly appointed Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination Hong Nam-ki. 

The president said to the ministers that, “I urge you to conduct overall research into current conditions of non-regular workers as soon as possible, and hopefully come up with a roadmap and concrete measures to solve the issue, at least within the second half of the year.” 

“Firstly, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance will change its performance assessment guidelines for public organizations and state corporations,” said President Moon. 

“In the past, the public sector was unable to increase the number of permanent workers, as we regarded a fixed number of workers to be a performance standard for an organization. This created a vicious circle, as it only led to an increase in non-regular workers,” he explained. 

“Now, we need to make a big change in our ways of thinking so that organizations that actively employ more workers and change non-regular workers into regular workers can get better scores on performance assessments,” he said. 

President Moon Jae-in smiles as he meets with temporary workers at Incheon International Airport during his visit there on May 12. He told them about the Incheon International Airport Corporation’s plans to change temporary positions into permanent positions and to create more jobs.

“As I listened to the Incheon International Airport Corporation’s plans to change 10,000 temporary workers’ status to permanent, and the corporation’s plan to make some 30,000 up to 50,000 more jobs, I believe we can do much better than my original plan to create 810,000 jobs within my term,” said the president with a smile. 

“Creating good jobs is the first goal of the new government’s management of state affairs. By doing so, it will raise people`s incomes, which will be reflected in consumption, to help revive spending and will support our country`s economic growth. I will work to create such a virtuous circle, which will create good jobs, and be reflected in people’s increased income,” said President Moon. 

President Moon Jae-in (center) poses for a photo with non-regular workers at Incheon International Airport on May 12.

President Moon Jae-in greets the crowd at Incheon International Airport after meeting with non-regular workers there on May 12.

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