President Lee Jae-myung said on the 29th that "reform that changes people's lives and brightens the nation's future is our government's identity and its reason for existing."
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting he presided over at the Blue House the same day, Lee said, "No matter how difficult or arduous it may be, I will fulfill the mission our sovereign citizens have given us — irreversible reform across society."
Lee called for "practicality and efficiency" in carrying out the reform agenda. "We can never stop this reform simply because the resistance is strong, because the pushback is strong," he said, while adding that "for reform to succeed, we need the understanding and participation of more citizens." He stressed that "because reform entails pain, we must carry out reform of daily life in a practical and efficient way — carefully, as quietly as possible, and while consoling the pain of those who must give up vested rights."
"We will push forward with three core social policies covering housing, jobs and financial support for low- and middle-income households," Lee said. "We must actively use available resources and policy tools, including excess tax revenue, to ease polarization and inequality, which are the core drivers of insecurity in people's livelihoods." He said the government would "concentrate available resources on measures such as supplying 1.19 million homes under the housing stability plan, the national jobs program and the expansion of inclusive finance," and instructed that "all ministries do their utmost to swiftly advance the three core social policies."
"We will be judged by the public through action, not words, and take responsibility through results," Lee said. "I believe our citizens will join the people's sovereignty government on its path of livelihoods, reform and unity."
At a news conference on the 18th, Lee said that "now that the economy has recovered to a certain degree, we will focus going forward on delivering tangible results in people's livelihoods and reform." He also said at the time that he was giving careful thought to appointing a social policy expert as the next presidential chief of policy.
