Pres. Lee Names Job Creation as Top Policy Agenda

President Lee Myung-bak yesterday said his administration’s top priority this year is job creation, both in quality and quantity.

In his New Year’s address aired live in the morning, he said, “The emergency economic rescue mode will end in the first half of this year, and the government will make an all-out effort to help the people see tangible benefit from economic recovery in the second half.”

With job creation as the government’s top policy agenda this year, the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae decided to hold a monthly strategy meeting on national job creation chaired by the president starting this month and to launch follow-up measures.

Last year, he declared “an emergency economic government” in his New Year’s speech and set up an “emergency economic countermeasures” task force.

In addition to strengthening diplomacy, President Lee mentioned boosting the economy, accelerating advanced reform, and maintaining moderate and pragmatic policies for the people as the three pillars of national policy agenda.

He also said the government will focus on the five key initiatives of economy recovery and job creation, education reforms, regional development, political reforms, and all-out diplomacy and substantial improvement in inter-Korean relations.

President Lee also proposed establishing a permanent dialogue channel for inter-Korean relations, saying, “This year should create a new turning point in bilateral ties.”

“This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Korean War. By engaging North Korea, the government will make efforts to recover the remains of South Korean soldiers killed in the Korean War.”

When asked by reporters on the prospects of an inter-Korean summit after his speech, the president said, “It’s been a while since the two sides bickered over inter-Korean issues, which I take as a positive change. In the past, it was always South Korea that was desperate for a summit, but that’s no longer the case, which is yet another positive sign.”

His proposal for liaison offices is seen as a positive response to North Korea’s suggestion to improve bilateral relations in its annual New Year’s editorial released last Friday.

yongari@donga.com