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President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol speaks at the People Power Party’s election night event at the National Assembly Library in Seoul early in the morning of March 10. (pool photo)

Yoon Suk-yeol held his first press conference as president-elect on Thursday at the National Assembly. In his speech, he revealed a detailed roadmap for his administration that included plans to overcome the COVID-19 crisis, establish stronger defense capabilities to respond to the North Korean nuclear threat, and balance regional development.

Focusing on private sector-led economic growth, Yoon emphasized that his administration would “switch to a private sector-centered economy rather than a government-led economy to create more jobs and strengthen the middle class.”

Yoon stressed that his No. 1 campaign promise of overcoming the COVID-19 crisis will be his top priority upon taking office. When asked by a reporter what specifically he would do about repealing the “unscientific” disease control guidelines in place, Yoon announced his plans to form an organization within the presidential transition committee that will comprehensively deal with issues related to the economy, disease prevention, health and medical care.

“We intend to form a transition committee to start reviewing [policies related to] disease control and confirmed COVID-19 patients, including compensation for economic losses caused by COVID-19 and emergency relief for self-employed and small business owners.”

During his campaign, Yoon had put forward a plan COVID-19 emergency assistance and a post-COVID era as his No. 1 campaign pledge, sharing that if he became president, he planned to completely overhaul the COVID-19 response system within his first 100 days in office and secure compensatory funds amounting 50 trillion won, or roughly US$44.5 billion.

A steadfast critic of the Moon Jae-in administration’s Korean Peninsula peace process, Yoon emphasized during the press conference, “In order to protect the safety and property of the citizenry and defend our territory and sovereignty, I will build towards a strong national defense system that can reliably check any provocation.”

He continued, “Based on self-assured diplomacy and a robust security, [South Korea] will be born again as a central global state that contributes to freedom, peace, and prosperity,” adding, “I will rebuild the South Korea-US alliance and strengthen our comprehensive strategic alliance by furthering core values such as liberal democracy, the market economy and human rights.”

Based on his statement, Yoon will most likely prioritize strengthening ties with the US as his top foreign policy. In that vein, his first agenda as president-elect was to talk with US President Joe Biden on the phone for roughly 20 minutes.

In regard to diplomatic relations with China and Japan, Yoon gave a somewhat formulaic response, saying, “I will foster South Korea-China relations of mutual respect and build toward future-oriented South Korea-Japan relations.”

When a reporter from Japan’s Asahi Shimbun asked what kind of relationship he wanted to build with Japan, Yoon answered, “It’s important to look towards what would benefit both countries and both their citizens in the future rather than focusing on the past,” stressing that a pragmatic lens should be applied to solving diplomatic problems.

Focusing on balanced development for national unity, opposition majority an “opportunity” to mature Korea’s democracy

Yoon was also asked about reducing regionalism, a phenomenon observable in this election’s electoral maps, and how he would go about realizing national unity, to which he replied, “The way to solve the problem of national unity and regionalism is to work together to make sure all regions can grow fairly and equally.”

Moreover, when asked what kind of relationship he would pursue with the Democratic Party considering the opposition majority in the National Assembly, he said, “An opposition majority is a very natural phenomenon in a democratic country, and the separation of powers through which a certain party holds the administrative power while another party takes the lead in the legislature is nothing to find unusual.”

He continued, “The opposition majority could be an opportunity for our democracy and politics to further mature,” adding, “This is all for the citizenry and the national interest, and both the ruling party and the opposition all came to work at the National Assembly with the country and the people in mind, so I’m optimistic.”

On the kind of relationship he would establish with the Moon administration, including whether he would continue policies pursued by it, Yoon said, “Among policies carried out by the current administration, those that should be continued will be administered as such, while those that should be altered anew will be boldly adjusted and reformed.”

In regard to his strategy of using gender antagonism as a wedge, which has been pointed out as the reason the election defied expectations and turned out to be such a close match, Yoon said, “I never sowed division according to gender or sex,” denying the accusation.

Additionally, when asked about conducting a probe into the development scandal in Seongnam’s Daejang neighborhood, which he promised throughout his campaign trail, Yoon said, “Wouldn’t it be better to not talk about the Daejang matter today?” adding, “Like I always say, all such problems should be dealt with in accordance with the system.”

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter; Kim Ga-yoon, staff reporter

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