New pres. stresses happiness, creation, trust in inaugural speeh

President Park Geun-hye used the words "happiness," "creation" and "trust" numerous times in her 20-minute inaugural speech Monday.

She mentioned happiness 20 times, creation 10 times, and trust eight times. The word "people" was used 57 times, which had also been a favorite term of previous presidents in their inaugural speeches.

President Park used the word "people" in front of "happiness" throughout most of her 5,200-letter speech. She has stressed "the people`s happiness" as a key goal in administration since running for president, and apparently intended to steer national affairs with the people at the center.

The new president also emphasized creation and trust. Creative economy is key to "Geun-hyenomics," given her plan to achieve a second "miracle of the Han River" through creative economy utilizing science and technology. Trust is another of her pledges, as she stressed the two Koreas, the government and the people`s trust.

President Park ordered that her speech be written by internal staff without help from outside writers. Jeong Ho-seong, senior presidential secretary, and Choi Jin-woong, the former head of the message team at the presidential election committee, prepared it. Overall planning of the speech was conducted by Yoo Min-bong, senior presidential secretary for national affairs planning, with input from Kim In-ho, former presidential secretary for economic affairs, Lee Bae-yong, president of Ewha Womans University, and Kim Ho-ki, a sociology professor at Yonsei University.

sungho@donga.com