Prime Minister candidate Kim Min-seok said on the 16th, “Over the past three years, Korea has regressed. To correct this, we need to run at full speed for at least the next 100 days.”
On the same day, Kim stated at the economic ministry briefing held at the Financial Supervisory Service training center in Tongui-dong, Seoul, “I want to check whether each ministry has properly started the preparation for discovering feasible livelihood policies that can be implemented within 100 days.”
The briefing was attended by senior officials (level 1) from 10 ministries, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Employment and Labor, Financial Services Commission, and Fair Trade Commission.
This is the first time a prime minister candidate has publicly reported on ministry operations before taking office. In the past, while preparing for hearings, prime minister candidates did receive briefings to grasp current issues, but they did not make them public.
Candidate Kim remarked, “I feel a heavy sense of responsibility as a prime minister candidate in an unprecedented situation where, just two weeks after the government’s launch, there are no prime minister, deputy prime minister, or ministers appointed by the new administration while the president is leaving for the G7 summit.” and added, “Today and tomorrow, I plan to check current issues as a learning opportunity for preparing responses for the hearing.”
He specifically stated regarding the objectives of the current issue checks, “First, I will examine the extent and depth of the ongoing economic crisis, which can be referred to as a second IMF crisis, as well as its reality.” He continued, “Secondly, I want to check the progress of whether the preparation for discovering feasible livelihood policies that can be implemented in 100 days has started.”
Furthermore, he said, “I want to verify whether there are proper mechanisms in place to reflect the will of the people and the ruling and opposition political circles, in accordance with the philosophy of a people’s sovereign government.” Candidate Kim described the “people’s sovereignty reflection mechanism” as “a kind of platform to propose, discuss, and reflect the will of the people in the policies that the people’s sovereign government will carry out.” He expressed his expectation that discussions about whether to reflect the public's will in accordance with the new era of 'K-Democracy' have naturally been ongoing at all government levels, not just within the presidential office.
He continued, “I will check the progress of urgent revitalization measures for livelihoods that are currently stuck, countermeasures for food prices, and secure lunch for workers, which livelihoods require and the president has responded to, and ensure that the president’s directives are being properly specified across all ministries.”
He specifically mentioned, “If there was a directive from the president to check the punishment measures for North Korean leaflets connected to public safety, I would like to know how the inter-ministerial concrete considerations have been followed up.”
Candidate Kim asserted, “The Lee Jae-myung administration will be a listening pragmatic government dedicated to livelihood outcomes.” He then noted, “In a very difficult situation, just two weeks after taking office, the period of three days during which the president departed for G7 without a properly organized system to support the administration is before public officials,” and added, “During this period, public officials should naturally be on emergency duty without anyone needing to say anything.”