'Reduce frequency, vet retweets before posting'
'Supporters have gone from disappointment to cold indifference'
'Not enough policy shift since press conference'
Cha Gyu-geun, a supreme council member of the Rebuilding Korea Party, urged President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday to scale back his social media activity, saying it was generating "far too much fatigue" among supporters and within the political camp.
Speaking on KBS Radio 1's "Jeongyeok Sisa," Cha said he had been raising concerns about the president's social media communication style for months. "We have been calling for him to stop doing this since several months ago," he said.
Cha said the activity was causing unnecessary misunderstandings, noting that some accounts the president had retweeted had previously used derogatory or demeaning language. "He should reduce the frequency, and if he does post, it would be better to speak plainly and only about his own policy direction," he said.
He added that the president had signaled his intention to continue the practice, given how long he had been accustomed to it. "He now needs to exercise a little more restraint, and for retweets, he should put a verification team in place to screen them first so unnecessary misunderstandings do not arise," Cha said.
Cha warned that the president's apparent determination to stay the course was alienating his base. "Because the president is showing that he will just go his own way, people are growing worn out — they have moved past disappointment and their hearts are going cold," he said. "This is ultimately what is holding back the president's approval rating." He added that the president and Cheong Wa Dae officials needed to confront this reality with clear eyes.
Cha also said the policy shift following the president's recent press conference had not gone far enough. "The press conference stopped the slide in approval ratings and produced a modest rebound, but that level of rebound will make it very hard to climb much higher going forward," he said. "A few changes in the governing direction are needed for the press conference to have its full effect."
He credited the president's demeanor at the press conference for the partial recovery. "I think the rebound was triggered by the president lowering himself and appealing to the public with humility," he said. "But that sense of urgency and sincerity needs to become visible in actual changes to the governing direction afterward — and it is still lacking."
Cha also expressed reservations about the president's push to broaden his base toward the moderate and rational conservative camp. While saying he agreed with the goal of embracing moderates and rational conservatives, he stressed that the expansion must preserve the values of the existing democratic and progressive bloc. "If he joins hands with forces that contradict existing ethics and values, or that have caused disappointment, the existing support base could be badly shaken," he said.
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