hankyoreh

President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks at a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, on Oct. 30. (Yoon Woon-sik/The Hankyoreh)

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol read out a wish list from the Korean business community in a Cabinet meeting on Monday, framing it as “desperate voices from the trenches of the economy.” Yoon said that businesspeople want a lower minimum wage for migrant workers, desire an amendment to the anti-graft law, and are worried about the consequences of applying laws for industrial accidents to workplaces with less than 50 employees.

“Nothing is more critical than swiftly responding to appeals from the front lines and the cries of the people who are waiting for our help at this very moment, before our very eyes. I will be diving deeper into issues in the trenches of the public livelihood than I have until now, and I will do my best to quickly address the appeals from the front lines that staff at the presidential office have personally heard,” Yoon emphasized.

“This past week, my chief of staff, secretaries and administrators have visited 36 different sites on the front lines of our economy, including small businesses and welfare offices. We’ve listened carefully to the desperate voices of the people,” Yoon said while hosting a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, on Monday.

“Small business owners and self-employed individuals who are struggling with high interest rates complained that they feel like slaves to the banks, forced to hand over all their hard-earned income to manage the principle on their loans. Restaurant owners who hire foreign workers and are in danger of going out of business because of constantly rising wages called for emergency measures, and suggested that Korea should withdraw from conventions of the International Labour Organization that require foreign workers to be paid equal wages as domestic workers.”

Yoon continued: “There were also calls to revise the Kim Young-ran Act [i.e., Improper Solicitation and Graft Act] because the caps it places on meal and gift values are so divorced from reality. We heard the kind of trenchant observations that can only be heard on the ground: fears about the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, which will be applied to workplaces with fewer than 50 employees next year; concerns about inadequate public safety infrastructure, including security cameras, in Hongdae and other nightlife areas that draw big crowds; and urgent demands for government action to accommodate surging demand for after-school programs for children in the suburbs of Seoul.”

“Far from being a one-off gimmick, the presidential office’s visit to the front lines will be established as a system for ongoing direct communication with the public. High-ranking officials including ministers, vice ministers, agency directors, bureau directors and team leaders in all areas of the government will be expected to personally visit the trenches of the economy and administration to hear from people working there and to develop policy that’s substantive rather than speculative. The presidential office and the prime minister’s office will be closely watching to ensure that each ministry and agency is in direct contact with people on the ground,” Yoon also said.

During the same meeting, Yoon highlighted his accomplishments in a visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Oct. 21-26.

“Combined with my state visit to the United Arab Emirates early this year, I’ve wrapped up summit diplomacy with the ‘big three’ countries in the Middle East. We’ve effectively built a huge playing field for Korean companies in the Middle East, a playing field worth 107 trillion won,” Yoon said.

“I’ve gone the distance in ‘sales diplomacy’ as South Korea’s No. 1 salesperson to open up new markets and expand existing ones. I’ve also worked hard to bring Korean laws and institutions in line with global standards,” the South Korean president said.

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter

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