Yoon rejects past smorgasbords of policy 'tasks'

Politics

Published: 04 Apr. 2022, 18:13 Updated: 04 Apr. 2022, 18:15

Yoon rejects past smorgasbords of policy 'tasks'

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, center, Ahn Cheol-soo, right, chairman of the presidential transition team, and Won Hee-ryong, left, the transition team's planning chief, at a planning committee meeting at its headquarters in Samcheong-dong, Jongno District in Seoul Monday. [NEWS1]

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's transition team on Monday reviewed the main issues facing them, and promised to not bite off more than it can handle.

Ahn Cheol-soo, chairman of the transition team, said Monday, said he intends to set 30 to 50 key policy "tasks," and then keep them. He emphasized "selection and concentration."

New Korean governments often announce a list of tasks they intend to tackle. In the past, transition teams presented them as grandiose ambitions.

"We have no intention of listing state affairs tasks like the Moon Jae-in administration did," said Ahn. "Some governments were unable to implement even 50 out of 100 tasks, so it is preferable to focus on keeping promises after setting around 30 key tasks."

This will be far less than the 193 tasks proposed by Lee Myung-bak's transition team, which was later narrowed down to 100.

The Park Geun-hye government set 140 key tasks. The Moon Jae-in government selected 100, including the complete eradication of corruption as its No. 1 task.

Yoon is said to have given "special instructions" to his transition team to significantly reduce tasks compared to the previous government.

"State affairs tasks that surreptitiously disappear toward the middle or the end of the administration will be reduced as much as possible, while core tasks that must be fulfilled will be selected," a key official on the presidential transition committee told the JoongAng Ilbo Monday.

Yoon held a presidential transition committee workshop on March 26 and ordered all divisions to submit a report on key policy tasks. The transition team reviewed the reports Monday. Key tasks will be announced by Yoon before he takes office on May 10.

"If we do not overdo things and start with tasks that can be done step by step," Yoon said in a recent closed-door transition committee meeting, according to multiple transition team officials, "then the people will trust the government and entrust them with bigger tasks."

Yoon has proposed a slimmed down government and promised to delegate more responsibilities to his prime minister.

"It is important to have a government that is competent and does a good job," Yoon said in a transition committee meeting held at its headquarters in Samcheong-dong, central Seoul, on Monday. "We are the servants of the people."

He continued, "It is important to take over government affairs, but it is also very important for the transition committee to review the promises made to the people during the election process, set priorities and keep the promises promptly."

According to the transition committee, it will not use the past method of simply listing 100 policy tasks, but rather focus on selecting three to five core tasks for each division and adding detailed implementation plans with a timeline.

"We will specify in detail why the task was selected and the specific implementation plan, rather than listing it simply for publicity's sake," the transition team official said. "Issues that cannot be completed immediately will be classified separately and presented as mid- to long-term tasks."

BY SARAH KIM, SOHN GUK-HEE [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]