Moon to give a second state of the nation address

President Moon Jae-in will address the nation on the current state of the country next week, the Blue House said Monday.

“The presidential office and the National Assembly agreed today to arrange the president’s state of the nation address on Nov. 1,” the Blue House said.

The address will be delivered at the National Assembly next Wednesday, marking Moon’s second state of the nation address since taking office in May. It will follow the parliamentary interpellation of the government, scheduled to end next Tuesday.

Moon will also hold a meeting with officials and leaders from top labor organizations this week, a Blue House official said.

The meeting will be held Tuesday and will involve dozens of labor leaders, including those from the two umbrella labor unions - the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.

The talks will nearly complete the president’s series of discussions with all major economic players as he moves to implement his new economic and growth strategies, which are largely centered around boosting jobs and household incomes to trigger what he calls a virtuous cycle of increased spending and economic growth.

Moon met with the leaders of the country’s top 15 business groups, including Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, in late July.

Considered labor-friendly, the new president has vowed to create 810,000 new full-time jobs in the public sector alone, while also promising to raise the minimum wage to 10,000 won ($8.83) per hour from the current 6,470 won per hour before his single five-year term ends in 2022. The minimum wage is already set to jump 16.4 percent to 7,530 won at the start of next year.

While meeting with the labor leaders this week, the president is widely expected to ask for patience and compromise, as he has frequently stressed the need for effort, as well as concessions, from all parties.

Meanwhile, the Blue House released a detailed schedule history of Moon, promising to do so each week as part of efforts to enhance the transparency of the top elected office.

The released schedule includes Moon’s official and unofficial meetings with government and presidential offices.

“The move is to include the schedules that have been held behind closed doors due to their sensitivity in the list of schedules to be released. Only, they will be revealed in weekly, ex post facto releases due to security concerns,” presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said in a statement.

The president’s personal schedule will not be subject to release. Also, the identities of people or officials involved in closed-door meetings will be withheld.

For instance, on Friday the president received a daily report from the office of a presidential secretary at 9:16 a.m., and he then received a report on current issues from the office of another unspecified presidential secretary at 9:40 a.m.

The release of such a detailed presidential daily schedule is aimed at enhancing the transparency of the presidential office.

“It is designed to show the people how the president is working to fulfill his presidential duties,” a presidential official said.

Yonhap