Lee accelerates policy drive with hardline governance push

Dec 15, 2025, 09:30 am

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President Lee Jae-myung speaks during a year-end policy briefing by the Ministry of Education, the National Education Commission and the Ministry of Government Legislation at the Government Sejong Convention Center in Sejong on Dec. 12. / Source: Yonhap News

President Lee Jae-myung is stepping up his year-end policy drive as he receives work reports from major government ministries and agencies, pressing for faster implementation and tougher accountability across the public sector.

In a first for any administration, Lee ordered the real-time livestreaming of the briefings, using the platform to issue a stern warning to Coupang over a massive personal data leak. “When companies violate regulations and harm the public, sanctions must be so severe that they think, ‘the company could go under,’” Lee said.

He also sharply rebuked the Korea Customs Service and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for delays in carrying out instructions related to drug crackdowns and support for victims of rental fraud, saying, “Claiming a lack of personnel or budget is simply not an excuse.” His remarks sent a clear warning to the civil service against bureaucratic inertia.

According to the presidential office on Dec. 14, Lee is scheduled to receive reports from the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Dec. 16; the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on Dec. 17; and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice on Dec. 18. Earlier this week, he met with officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the transport, education and science ministries.

Presidential spokesperson Kim Nam-jun said Lee emphasized “accountable governance,” “fair administration” and “active policymaking” during last week’s sessions. He added that the briefings were designed to accelerate policy execution six months into the Lee administration and to present the government’s vision directly to the public through live broadcasts.

During a briefing by the transport ministry, Lee instructed officials to review a plan under which the government would first compensate victims of rental fraud for part of their deposits and later exercise its right of recourse, stressing that the promise had already been made publicly. He reiterated that administrative delays caused by budgetary or staffing constraints would not be tolerated.

At briefings by the labor ministry and the National Tax Service, Lee called for measures to reduce discrimination between regular and non-regular workers and to close legal loopholes that allow assets seized through fraudulent mortgages to remain unusable for life.

Lee also criticized the Ministry of Science and ICT for what he described as an excessively high success rate in government-funded research and development, calling it a “bureaucrat-friendly evaluation system” that discourages long-term, high-risk research.

Highlighting regional imbalance and widening inequality as major fairness issues, Lee urged officials to prioritize these concerns when formulating fiscal and tax policies, Kim said.

Separately, the spokesperson clarified that Lee’s mention of the controversial historical text Hwandan Gogi during a briefing by the Northeast Asian History Foundation did not mean he endorsed its claims or ordered any research into it.

#Lee Jae-myung #policy drive #livelihoods #government briefings #active administration