Opening remarks ran 20 minutes, rivaling a formal address to the nation

President personally revised speech until the last minute, delaying start by 30 minutes

President Lee Jae Myung holds a press conference at the Cheong Wa Dae banquet hall on Friday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung holds a press conference at the Cheong Wa Dae banquet hall on Friday. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung's press conference at Cheong Wa Dae on Friday was notably different from past sessions — there were no smiles.

The seating arrangement placed reporters closer to the president than before, and Lee stood throughout the 100-minute event, answering questions with a consistently serious expression.

Lee opened his 20-minute prepared remarks with an apology, saying he was "greeting you with a heart full of remorse."

The remarks were wide-ranging and substantive, touching on issues the president has been wrestling with — a level of depth more typical of a formal national address than a routine press conference.

He maintained a tone of humility throughout, saying, "Please blame my shortcomings and those of my government. I will listen more, communicate more, and reach out first." He also firmly ruled out seeking a second term, saying, "I have absolutely no intention of seeking re-election," putting to rest a controversy that had been simmering.

He also signaled an effort to unite the liberal and progressive camp, saying, "We are all supporters of former Presidents Moon, Roh and Kim Dae-jung — and comrades of Lee Jae Myung."

The conference started 30 minutes later than scheduled. Lee personally revised the opening remarks until the last minute, expanding them and adjusting the tone to project greater humility toward the public. What had originally been an eight-minute statement grew to 20 minutes in the process.

Cheong Wa Dae staff also deliberated until the final moments over whether Lee should stand while taking questions — a departure from past practice.

The question-and-answer session with reporters began immediately after the opening remarks.

Lee maintained a serious demeanor throughout. Chief Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung, who served as moderator, and the Cheong Wa Dae aides in attendance also wore noticeably sterner expressions than at previous conferences.

The session was divided into two broad categories — politics and diplomacy, and policy and the economy — with a total of 14 questions fielded.

That was significantly fewer than the 21 questions taken at the first-anniversary press conference in June and the 25 at the New Year's conference in January.

The first-anniversary conference ran 167 minutes and the New Year's session 173 minutes, while Friday's event wrapped up in 100 minutes — 10 minutes over the scheduled 90.

President Lee Jae Myung takes questions from reporters at a press conference held at the Cheong Wa Dae banquet hall on Friday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung takes questions from reporters at a press conference held at the Cheong Wa Dae banquet hall on Friday. [Yonhap]

The conference was hastily arranged to arrest a slide in Lee's approval rating, which has fallen to its lowest point since he took office. The question now is whether it will prove enough to stop the decline and spark a rebound.

A Cheong Wa Dae official offered a cautiously positive assessment. "It was a relatively solid performance," the official said. "On the political issues at hand, the president managed to address, to a reasonable degree, what the public wanted to hear."

Reactions from the political world were divided. The ruling party praised Lee for adopting a more humble posture toward public sentiment, while the opposition criticized the conference for lacking concrete solutions.

Democratic Party of Korea leader Kim Min-seok said he "shared the same thoughts and feelings as the president throughout the conference" and pledged that the party would "listen more humbly and look after the livelihoods of the people."

Floor spokesperson Jeon Eun-su also pressed the opposition, saying that since Lee had made clear he had no intention of seeking re-election, "the People Power Party now has no grounds to refuse constitutional reform."

The Rebuilding Korea Party offered a mixed verdict, saying the conference "clearly showed a sincere awareness of and reflection on public sentiment," but added that it "fell short of public expectations when it came to concrete solutions on major national policy issues."

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok was more blunt. "What remained was self-congratulation and blame-shifting — no genuine reflection," he said.


sang@heraldcorp.com