President Lee Jae-myung presided over the first cabinet meeting after taking office on the 5th and noted, "As representatives entrusted with tasks by the people, we must prioritize them and do our best with what we can do right now."
President Lee said this during introductory remarks at the cabinet meeting held at 10 a.m. in the second-floor cabinet meeting room of the Yongsan Presidential Office. Most of the cabinet members appointed during the Yoon Seok-yeol administration attended the meeting.
The day before, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Joo-ho conveyed the resignation intentions of all cabinet members, but President Lee only accepted the resignation of Minister Park Sung-jae.
The Democratic Party of Korea has previously pointed out that many cabinet members of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration are 'accomplices in a rebellion,' creating a somewhat awkward situation; however, it is interpreted that the emphasis was placed on doing their best as 'servants of the people.'
In fact, before the official start, President Lee opened with, "(smiling) Isn't it a bit awkward?" As the somewhat stiff atmosphere relaxed, he added, "Let's smile a bit while doing this."
President Lee stated, "You may feel very awkward, but since we are doing tasks entrusted to us by our citizens, we should do our best during the time we are in public office."
He also added, "In any case, it will take considerable time for system maintenance to be clearly established, but during that time, our citizens are struggling in difficult situations."
President Lee expressed, "I want to reduce that time as much as possible," and asked, "Don't you have duties as constitutional institutions that you need to perform as well?"
He continued, "Since you are the ones who best understand the current situation at each ministry level, I will listen to your opinions within that scope, and I will also share what I have to say. Additionally, you cannot neglect the authority and responsibilities you hold even for a moment."
Furthermore, President Lee said, "So today, I want to check on the current issues at each ministry level. It may be awkward, but please do your best," while smiling.
At the cabinet meeting, in addition to Deputy Prime Minister Lee, 19 cabinet members, including Minister Yoo Sang-im of the Ministry of Science and ICT, Minister Cho Tae-yul of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Minister Kim Young-ho of the Ministry of Unification attended. There are six ministries experiencing vacancies for Deputy Ministers, including Minister of Justice Kim Seok-woo and Minister of National Defense Kim Sun-ho.
Attending from the Presidential Office were Chief of Staff Kang Hoon, Security Secretary Wi Seong-lak, Spokesperson Kang Yu-jeong, and Protocol Secretary Kwon Hyuk-ki.