hankyoreh

South Chungcheong Province (provided by Korea Federation for Environmental Movement)

It has only been five days since the presidential election, but the government has already agreed to convert irregular workers at Incheon International Airport to regular status before the end of the year, lifted the ban on sing-alongs of “March for the Beloved” (a song associated with the Gwangju Democratization Movement), recognized the short-term teachers who died on the Sewol Ferry as having lost their lives in the line of duty, and temporarily shut down aging coal plants to deal with fine particle dust air pollution. These are some of President Moon Jae-in’s swift actions. President Moon is attracting attention by carrying out the promises he made during the campaign one after another, making personal visits and starting with the promises that only require an executive order or the revision to an enforcement order.　

One characteristic of the actions that Moon has taken at the beginning of his presidency are that he makes a personal appearance. The first place Moon went on May 12 was the Incheon International Airport Corporation. Moon had declared that there would be no irregular workers at the corporation by the end of his term, and the corporation responded by promising to convert its indirectly employed irregular workers (more than 10,000) before the end of the year.

On May 15, which is Teacher’s Day in South Korea, Moon attended a special class on the topic of fine particle dust at Eunjung Elementary School, located in Seoul’s Yangcheon District, and promised to suspend operations at coal plants that were more than 30 years old. He was implementing one policy on each visit. While personal visits are a technique that other presidents have often used to gain attention at the beginning of their term, Moon has set himself apart with his flexible security.　

A coal-fired power plant in Taean

Nearly as important as what Moon is doing is how fast he is doing it. He has been concentrating more on measures that can be done immediately through issuing an executive order or revising an enforcement decree than on things that take longer, such as revising the law. The day after his inauguration, for example, Moon scrapped the state-authored history textbooks and allowed a singalong of the “March for the Beloved” at the memorial ceremony for the Gwangju Massacre. These were instances in which a presidential decree was sufficient to end conflicts that had been festering since the previous administration.

The announcement on May 15 that the government had officially recognized the short-term teachers on the Sewol ferry as having died in the line of duty was the result of Moon ordering the relevant government agency to quickly complete the process of honoring their heroic deaths. Moon also asked the agency to “look into a way to honor public servants who die while performing their duties regardless of whether they are regular or irregular workers.” In short, Moon asked the agency to first honor the short-term teachers who died on the Sewol ferry and then to make this an institutional practice. “This hadn’t been done because of a problem with the institutional interpretation, so the right thing to do was to wrap up the controversy, honor the deceased and comfort their bereaved families,” Moon said.

Also noticeable is how Moon is taking into account the symbolic effectiveness of policy implementation. The order to shut down aging coal plants on May 15 was one such example. Shutting down eight plants for one month will in fact reduce fine particle dust by 1 or 2%, according to a Blue House analysis.

“You might wonder whether that‘s enough reason to shut down the plants, but given the effect this has on our everyday lives, our position is that the government needs to take action as quickly as possible. As we see it, even 1 or 2% is no small matter,” said a Blue House official.

By Jung Yu-gyung, staff reporter

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