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| President Moon Jae-in, third from right, has tea with leaders of seven major Korean faiths ahead of a luncheon at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. From left are Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong; Song Beom-doo, leader of Cheondogyo originating from the 19th-century Donghak movement rooted in a peasant rebellion against the Joseon Kingdom; Oh Do-chul, executive director of the Won Buddhism administration; Kim Young-geun, head of the Seonggyungwan National Confucian Academy; pastor Kim Sung-bok (protestant); President Moon; Ven. Wonhaeng, secretary general of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the nation's largest Buddhist sect; and pastor Lee Hong-jeong (protestant). Korea Times photo by Ryu Hyo-jin |
By Do Je-hae
President Moon Jae-in highlighted his resolve to establish national unity in the "post-Cho Kuk" period during a meeting with religious leaders at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday.
Moon's message for the religious leaders centered on how to mend the escalating political divide among the public in the aftermath of the scandal involving his former justice minister. Rallies for and against the Moon administration and his adamant push to reform the prosecution continued to take place in central Seoul and in front of the National Assembly over the weekend, even after Cho's resignation from the post in charge of spearheading the reform.
During the meeting, Moon responded to the rising calls to send out a sincere message to heal the public divide. "For national unity and harmony, I as President and all our politicians must try harder. But I also want to urge religious leaders to play a bigger role," Moon said according to a press pool report. "Right now, there is a huge conflict regarding issues that had gained sympathy among the people, such as prosecution reform and the establishment of a separate investigative body for dealing with corruption allegations involving ranking public officials. With the upcoming general election, political conflict will escalate and this will possibly result in a bigger division among the public."
The President's call for national unity following the Cho debacle ― which erupted in August when he nominated the scandal-ridden former senior presidential secretary for civil affairs as justice minister ― was unexpected. Moon has been reluctant to comment on the divisive rallies and has rather called them a show of active democracy, even as he has suffered a noticeable blow to his job approval ratings in the wake of the scandal.
But he did say there was a positive side to the current situation in that it reaffirmed the public's strong desire for a "fair society," which was one of his trademark campaign pledges. "As you know, we have been trying to establish an equitable society, paying particular attention to terminating undue privileges or irregularities in various sectors. We believe there have been some positive outcomes in this regard under this administration. After listening to the people's voices this time, however, I have come to realize that their request for fairness in society is much stronger. They are demanding the removal of not just undue privileges, but also the elements of bias that can be found in some legally run systems and institutions. This is something that our politicians must keep in mind. If this is realized, then I believe fairness in our society will be upgraded to a new level."
This was the first time for the President to invite the leaders of the seven major faiths in Korea ― including Catholics, Protestants and Buddhists ― since February, prior to the U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi, Vietnam. Moon told them he would appreciate their advice on various key issues faced by the country. "There are a lot of problems in our society right now. With the global downturn, our economy is undergoing some hardship; and inter-Korean relations are not making much headway with the deadlock in U.S.-North Korea talks," Moon said.
Ven. Wonhaeng, secretary general of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, said, "In the past two months, we have experienced much conflict. We will do our part, and pray for harmony and peace in our society and meaningful progress in state affairs."
