President Moon Jae-in takes photo with residents in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, May 21, as he visited his hometown to take a day off. / Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae



One month in office, he successfully breaks convention

By Kim Rahn

A month into his presidency following his May 10 inauguration, President Moon Jae-in has shown a non-bureaucratic, convention-breaking attitude in his relationship with his staff and the people.

Before being elected, he promised to become a president who communicated with the people, and he has been keeping the promise pretty well so far.

Moon focuses on direct and frequent contact with his staff and citizens in a more comfortable way without formality and people have accepted this positively.

The image of "a friendly man of the neighborhood" is highly recognized, especially because it is the complete opposite to that of his ousted predecessor Park Geun-hye who was notorious for lacking communication and sympathy with the people.

Moon has shown a non-authoritarian attitude from the day of his inauguration. After taking the oath of office at the National Assembly, he accepted people's requests for photos before getting in a car to head for Cheong Wa Dae.

It was rare for a president to mingle with the public during and after an official ceremony. This was possible as Moon asked his security staff to have a "soft" guard over him and not stop citizens from approaching, a request that embarrassed the head of the presidential security team.

As it took time to have the residence in the Cheong Wa Dae complex prepared for the new President who was inaugurated without a transition period, Moon commuted between his private home and the presidential office for three days. People visited his house during that time to see him, and he accepted their requests for selfies, handshakes and autographs before going to work or after coming back from work.

When a group of children visited Cheong Wa Dae, Moon, who was passing by them in a car, got out and had an impromptu meeting with them. When he visited an elementary school, a boy was hurriedly searching for paper and a pen from his backpack to get Moon's autograph. Despite his tight schedule, Moon squatted down in front of him and waited until he finally found some paper.





President Moon Jae-in prepares his own coffee before a meeting with secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday. / Yonhap

With his staff, Moon also does not stand on formality.

He had a 3,000-won lunch at a Cheong Wa Dae cafeteria with the janitors, cleaners, cooks and technicians there. When they were told in the morning that the President would have lunch with them, they did not believe it for hours, Cheong Wa Dae officials said.

In meetings with secretaries, lower-ranking staffers do not prepare coffee for Moon as the President does it himself. After lunch with newly-appointed senior secretaries, Moon went on a stroll with them in the Cheong Wa Dae compound. In meetings, they sit at a round table for free discussion without any order of who sits where and who sits next to whom.

People here have never seen such scenes before ― when former presidents had meetings with staffers, they took the seat of honor and other attendants stayed stiff in posture while looking serious.

While former President Park made orders unilaterally and secretaries were busy jotting down her orders, Moon pronounced that there would be no "dictation" in his meetings.

Such moves come from Moon's belief that the country belongs to the people.

"We have a clear purpose of making a country which belongs to the people," chief presidential secretary Yoon Young-chan said Thursday. "So we're trying to break down authoritarianism and communicate with them."

Citizens react positively to the "new wave," but concerns are also rising that this may be regarded as only a populist move and merely showing off if it does not help the government perform well in state management.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party said, "Moon is only making a show of things for his avid supporters."





Moon to deliver address

In the meantime, Moon will deliver a speech at the National Assembly, Monday, to seek cooperation to pass a bill on a supplementary budget.

It will be his first parliamentary address since his inauguration.

The Moon government drew up an 11.2 trillion won additional budget mainly to support job creation, but the opposition parties have been negative about it, saying this aim is not a valid reason to draft an extra budget.