Moon to hold live Q. and A. sesh with public on TV

President Moon Jae-in speaks at a live town hall meeting on Nov. 19, 2019. He is scheduled to host such meeting once more to field questions from the public on his administration's Covid-19 policies. [YONHAP]

President Moon Jae-in will be taking questions from the public live on TV on Nov. 21 for 100 minutes to get a better understanding of people's thoughts on his administration’s Covid-19 policies, said the Blue House on Wednesday.

“The conversations will center on the topics of Covid-19 challenges and the economic livelihood of the people,” said Park Kyung-mee, presidential spokesperson, in a statement on Wednesday. “The televised conference will be shown live on KBS from 7:10 p.m. on Nov. 21.”

A total of 300 people will attend the town hall meeting, who have been selected based on their age, gender and residential district. Two hundred, who are all vaccinated, will attend in person, while the other 100, who are not vaccinated, will attend the meeting virtually.

Several ministers will also attend in person or virtually, Park said.

In addition to taking questions from the 300, the Blue House said it will also be accepting questions from the public through the KBS website before the meeting.

The last time Moon did something similar was two years ago this month, when his administration was entering the second half of its five-year tenure.

At the time, Moon fielded questions on inter-Korean ties, including the possibility of another summit between Washington and Pyongyang — former U.S. President Donald Trump had already met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un two times that year — and Korea-Japan ties, especially on the possible termination of the General Security of Military Information Agreement, or Gsomia.

Moon also held live town hall meetings in January 2019, when he hosted a New Year’s media conference, and before that on the 100th day of his inauguration, as per tradition for Korean presidents.

Presidents Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun all had live TV conferences on or around their 100th day in office. Lee Myung-bak also held a special press conference on June 19, 2008, shortly after his 100th day anniversary, amid fierce street protests over his decision to reopen the Korean market to U.S. beef imports.

According a Realmeter poll last month, Moon’s approval was at 39.2 percent, the highest it’s been for any president during the second quarter of their last year in office.

In the same quarter, former President Roh Tae-woo’s approval rating was 12 percent, former President Kim Young-sam’s was 7 percent, former President Kim Dae-jung’s was 26 percent, former President Roh Moo-hyun’s was 24 percent, and former President Lee Myung-bak’s was 25 percent. Former President Park Geun-hye was impeached for power abuse before she reached the second quarter of her last year in office.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]