[Herald Economy = Reporter Seo Young-sang] On the 13th, President Lee Jae-myung emphasized the need for drastic structural reform, saying, "The biggest task facing the Republic of Korea is to rebound the government's potential growth rate."
President Lee held the 15th meeting of senior presidential aides at the presidential office in Yongsan on the day and said, "Each administration's potential growth rate has fallen by 1 percent, which could lead to negative growth. (Presidential staff) are the ones who have a duty to reverse the situation."
"Just as good nutrition does not improve your health when blood vessels accumulate, no policy can produce any effect if you neglect problems in society as a whole," President Lee said. "Structural reform comes with pain. It is not easy and comes with resistance. (But) we must overcome it."
"Now is the right time for structural reform," he said. "The potential growth rate must be rebounded through regulatory reforms in six key areas of regulation, finance, public, pension, education, and labor."
President Lee added, "We should thoroughly and quickly prepare related preparations so that next year can be the starting point for the national transformation of the Republic of Korea through full-fledged structural reform."
President Lee explained to secretaries gathered at the beginning of the meeting why they hold weekly logistical meetings, and mentioned the need for structural reform, the theme of the day.
"It seems that most of the presidential office staff are staffed except for some positions. Since most of them are gathered, I will say something," President Lee said. "What we are doing is acting as a head of a human being. As it serves as the head of state management, we need to know at least what we know even if it is not in our area of responsibility."
On the 55th anniversary of Jeon Tae-il's death, President Lee also emphasized the importance of industrial safety.
"We need to change the paradigm and perception of industrial safety from the ground up," President Lee said. "Things such as sufficiently predicted crashes and suffocation accidents in closed spaces occur repeatedly. We should no longer be injured or killed at workplaces where we went to make ends meet."
"The cry of young man Jeon Tae-il, who oxidized half a century ago by accusing the reality of unfair labor, became a precious embers that made our society come this far," he said.
"However, our labor reality still has a long way to go," he said. "As seen by the recent unfortunate incident in Ulsan's thermal power plant, many Jeon Tae-il are still at the border of life and death in the workplace."
There were also comments on the formation of the Economic, Social and Labor Committee. President Lee said, "The Economic, Social and Labor Committee has only just been formed," and added, "I thank Supreme Court Justice Kim Ji-hyung for his decision to chair the committee."
Seo Young-sang, [email protected]
Next year is likely to be the beginning of a new Korea.
I'm already looking forward to the new year.