hankyoreh

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook give out carnation pins to Alzheimer’s patients in Seoul’s Geumcheon District on May 7

The Moon Jae-in administration marks its second anniversary on May 10. As the administration enters its third year in office, President Moon’s approval ratings hover at just over 50%, down from nearly 80% early on in his term. A recent survey conducted by the polling firm Hankook Research at the Hankyoreh’s request for the administration’s second anniversary put his approval rating at 51.7%, with 44.6% of respondents rating him negatively. The results can’t be called satisfactory, although they could be seen as evidence that the public recognizes his past achievements and hasn’t given up hope.

Moon should look on this second anniversary as an occasion for reflecting on both his successes and his limitations and committing to a new start. We look forward to see him rising to the public’s expectations by pushing more forcefully ahead with the reforms and unity he pledged when he first took office.

The last two years have not been at all easy for Moon. Since the Democratic Party’s victory in last year’s local elections, he has faced no end of difficulties. The economy has been slow to recover, and his job creation efforts and other policies have not been yielding notable results. His ethical image has taken a hit with the controversy surrounding his second round of Cabinet appointments. Together, the economy and appointment issues are leaving him hamstrung.

The more difficult circumstances get, the more you have to stay true to your principles and walk the right path. As he starts year three of his term, Moon needs to speed up his push for reforms. The time has come to push ahead forcefully with the reforms to politics, the judiciary, and the chaebols that the candle-holding citizenry demanded. He needs to establish a robust “fast track alliance” among the four major ruling and opposition parties to shore up the results of his nascent political and judicial reforms. He also needs to take decisive action with his various policies to relieve inequality, while closely examining whether they are suited to reality.

We also hope to see him step up his efforts toward communication and unity. In a survey of experts by the Hankyoreh, the issue of appointments was named as the administration’s biggest disappointment. These appointments need to be informed by stronger principles of fairness, suitability, and diversity. The Liberty Korea Party (LKP) certainly has been troubling with its lurch toward militancy and combativeness, but times like these demand that the president and the Democratic Party find ways of overcoming opposition and achieving cooperative governance. They need to focus on uniting the public, hearing out views from different walks of life and reflecting those views in their governance.

In the area of foreign policy and national security, the administration has made major strides toward peace on the peninsula with three inter-Korean summits. But the collapse of the North Korea-US summit in Hanoi leaves it facing yet another challenge. The administration now needs to devote all available efforts on getting denuclearization talks started again between Pyongyang and Washington, pushing for another “miracle” along the lines of last year’s Pyeongchang Olympics. What is most essential here is a creative approach for achieving a breakthrough while adhering to consistent principles.

One of the biggest tasks facing the administration now concerns dealing with the economic downturn and stagnant job creation. It’s painful to see these economic woes continuing after all the pronouncements of being the “jobs administration.” Beyond simply creating public sector jobs through the proactive use of government finances, the administration also needs to provide a guiding hand to stoke the embers in the private sector. It needs to transform outdated economic frameworks through the three linchpins of its economic policy: income-led growth, a fair economy, and innovation-based growth. Other urgent tasks include achieving a new industry ecosystem and labor market to suit the growth of the sharing economy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, while bolstering this with a stronger social safety net.

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