[Column] A lonely presidential marathon

Seo Seung-wook
The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.

“The president is working hard, but bureaucrats are not moving at all,” said a senior member of the People Power Party (PPP), President’s Yoon Suk Yeol’s party, at a dinner recently. He told me an episode that ranking members of the presidential office and the administration were all familiar with.

“About six months ago, President Yoon Suk Yeol hosted a meeting on livelihood economy at a region outside Seoul. One of the key themes was how to strengthen the competitiveness of Korea’s exports,” the senior PPP member said. “Officials from major businesses in the region attended the meeting and talked about their hardships related to export and business environment. One of metal product manufacturers, whose business relies on export, complained about his difficulties related to the labeling of materials’ origins and export countries. As it was an issue that can be fixed simply by changing a public notice issued by a minister, the relevant ministry promised to make the change. And yet, it has not been changed until now. Workers of the ministry gave various reasons to procrastinate the change for six months.”

“The ministry must have its reasons, but it was a promise made at a meeting attended by the president and ministers,” said the senior member. “If it were not followed through for six months, you know what is going on. Deregulation is not up to the president or a minister. Ultimately, it depends on whether the bureaucrats take an action or not.”

According to government briefings, Yoon hosted a meeting themed on strengthening export competitiveness and a strategy to win more contracts overseas for infrastructure projects. At the meeting, Yoon promised, “I will do my best to resolve difficulties experienced by exporters.” He also urged the “concerned ministries to pay close attentions to the businesses’ hardships and make improvements.” If a promise the president enthusiastically made at a meeting to revolve problems were abandoned for six months by public servants, there is no need to talk about the frustrating reality other companies and local governments face.

A head of a metropolitan government, who is a member of the PPP, recently said, “Companies in the capital region and conglomerates must have their difficulties, but regional economy is actually on the brink of death due to various regulations.”

In January, North Chungcheong Gov. Kim Young-hwan posted a letter on Facebook, titled “Dear President Yoon, I am about to lose my mind.”

In the letter, Kim wrote, “I cannot sit on my hands when the regional economy is bombarded with heavy regulations. I am ready to stage strikes in Osong and the runway of Cheongju Airport. I am writing this letter with a determination that I may end up in jail.”

Lately, Yoon’s approval rating has steadily gone up. Taking into account the PPP’s lamentable campaigns by candidates for the leadership of the party — such as exchanges of low-quality slanders and loyalty competition for the president — the improving approval rating for Yoon is a rare development.

Of major projects Yoon has started, deregulation is a critical task for the economy to improve its fundamentals and take a new leap forward. In addition to labor, education and pension reforms, Yoon added a reforming of the bureaucratic society as the fourth major task, which is related to deregulation.

“Unless public servants change their minds, we cannot survive this economic war,” Yoon said earlier this month, urging the bureaucrats to work with speed and flexibility. He also pledged to introduce a flexible personnel management system on par with that of private companies and an unprecedented performance-based compensation system.

There is nothing the president can do alone. To avoid another six-month delay of the president’s promise and to prevent the Chungcheong governor from staging a strike on the runway of the airport, the president must impress the bureaucrats. Yoon’s shoulder is loaded heavy with this challenge.