President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a senior secretaries meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a senior secretaries meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung said Thursday that expanding electric vehicle demand and the EV market is critical, calling for higher EV adoption rates and deeper thinking about the wise use of electricity.

Cheong Wa Dae chief spokesperson Kang Yu-jung conveyed the contents of the closed-door senior secretaries meeting, chaired by the president, in a written briefing Thursday.

At the closed-door session, Lee received a report from the AI Future Planning Secretariat on plans to upgrade the electric vehicle charging infrastructure and said "developing a market that can use surplus electricity economically and wisely is very much needed."

Lee also received a report from the Social Affairs Secretariat on plans to develop tourism zones centered on regional airports, and directed officials to "separately report on the current state and trends of hate rallies targeting foreigners."

After reviewing the state of South Korea's tourism promotion efforts, Lee urged officials to "break free from stale thinking and take a swift, fresh approach through new and innovative thinking unconstrained by bureaucratic mindsets," Kang said.

Lee said the entire public sector, across all ministries, must keep pace with a changing world, adding that officials "must not move out of habit but must have a sense of ownership."

He also said "policy sensitivity is important in the process of implementing policy."

Lee closed by saying that "communicating the results of administrative actions to the public in a kind and thorough manner is more important than swift processing," and urged officials to "explain with sincerity, in a manner that is thoroughly humble — even to the point of excess."


moone@heraldcorp.com