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Domestic tasks await Moon after Europe trip

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President Moon Jae-in and People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok / Yonhap
President Moon Jae-in and People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok / Yonhap

By Nam Hyun-woo

President Moon Jae-in has finished his visit to the Group of Seven summit, as well as stops in Austria and Spain, receiving praise there for the country's elevated global status.

He is now poised to address a series of domestic tasks, including an extra budget for public assistance due to COVID-19 and a meeting with the new conservative main opposition bloc leader. According to Cheong Wa Dae, Moon has been focusing on reviewing domestic issues after returning from Europe last Friday.

On top of those issues is a supplementary budget to provide financial assistance to those suffering from the pandemic's after effects. As the number of at least partially vaccinated Koreans has surpassed 15 million, nearly 30 percent of the country's population, Moon is now shifting his focus onto speeding up economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by providing a new round of financial assistance to the public.

Concerning the budget, which will be the second supplementary budget this year when approved, the government and the liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) have been in discussions over who will be eligible for the financial assistance, with the former considering direct aid for people in the lower 70 percent income bracket and credit card cashback reward programs for everyone.

The DPK has accepted the cashback program ― with its Chairman Song Young-gil mentioning it as part of the DPK's package ― but is still sticking to providing direct aid to the entire population, regardless of their financial status. The two sides are in final discussions over the coverage and plan to announce the second supplementary budget early next month.

A meeting with the new conservative main opposition party leader is also an important task for Moon. Last week, Park Soo-hyun, the presidential senior secretary for public communications, said Moon will likely meet People Power Party (PPP) Chairman Lee Jun-seok this week to share the outcomes of his meetings in Europe and discuss an official consultative body between the DPK, the PPP and the government.

"There are reasons to meet him now: one is to celebrate Lee's election and the other is to share the outcome of his presidential visits," Park said.

Lee, 36, hit the headlines as he won the party leadership on June 11, becoming the youngest ever leader of the nation's conservative main party despite never having won a seat in the National Assembly.

If the meeting takes place, Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling party are anticipated to ask for the PPP's consent on the supplementary budget. Lee is anticipated to raise issue with the government's real estate policy, which is one of the most critical reasons that has led to Moon losing support.

Among other domestic tasks, Moon on Monday appointed his new secretaries for political affairs, youth affairs and education. Of them, the new youth affairs secretary, Park Seong-min, has been receiving attention due to her unprecedentedly young age of 25. Park, currently a student at Korea University, plans to take a leave of absence from the school, and she will become Moon's youngest secretary at Cheong Wa Dae.

Park's appointment is interpreted as a response to public criticism that the ruling bloc has failed to meet the needs of young people in their 20s and 30s, which is said to be one of the reasons for the DPK's crushing defeat in the April 7 mayoral by-elections for Seoul and Busan.

Opening up talks with North Korea is also on Moon's agenda. Sung Kim, the new U.S. special envoy for the North, had a trilateral meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Noh Kyu-duk and Takehiro Funakoshi, in Seoul, Monday, and offered to meet with Pyongyang "anywhere, anytime, without preconditions."

During his stay in Seoul through Wednesday, Kim is anticipated to pay a visit to Moon and his security aides to explore ways to amplify the current momentum for talks between Seoul, Washington and Pyongyang.


Nam Hyun-woo namhw@koreatimes.co.kr


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