Vacations are no time to rest for Korea's presidents

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Vacations are no time to rest for Korea's presidents

Published: 30 Jul. 2023, 17:50

President Yoon Suk Yeol meets with people at the Jagalchi fish market in Busan on Friday. Yoon has yet to go on a vacation although he was planning to take a break at the end of this month and early August. However, various national issues has kept the president from going on a summer vacation. [YONHAP]

The presidential office has yet to provide the public with any information regarding President Yoon Suk Yeol’s upcoming summer vacation.

Yoon had been planning to take some time off sometime around the end of July and early August.

However, the presidential office pushed back the date after recent heavy rains battered the country earlier this month, leaving 46 people dead, including 14 people who drowned in a flooded underpass in Osong-eup, North Chungcheong.

“We plan to recommend to President Yoon that he take a vacation sometime next week,” said a close aide to Yoon, speaking anonymously to the JoongAng Ilbo. "We're thinking of asking him to visit a provincial region to promote domestic spending."

He added that the president's summer break will likely last two days.

Lawmakers in the president’s People Power Party (PPP) believe Yoon should take some time off to prepare for next April's general election.

“The president’s popularity is stuck in the mid-30 percent,” said a PPP lawmaker. “He needs to take some time to work on making plans for the second half.”

In his first year as president, Yoon took a five-day break at his home in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul, between Aug.1 and Aug. 5.

Although Yoon and first lady Kim Keon-hee spent some time relaxing, including seeing a play in Seoul's theater district of Daehangno, he spent most of the break working on national policies at home.

Upon returning to work, Yoon named Kim Eun-hye as his press secretary and established a new secretary position specializing in policy planning.

Presidents in the past used summer vacations to flesh out major policies or to plan major Cabinet shakeups.

After his vacation, late President Kim Young-sam announced a new financial policy mandating that all financial transactions be made under real names to improve transparency and combat corruption and money laundering.

Kim also announced policies to correct history by demolishing the former Japanese Government-General Building built on Gyeongbok Palace. He even undertook efforts to dismantle the legacy of the country's past military regimes, arresting former generals-turned-presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae-woo.

President Lee Myung-bak came back from his summer vacation in 2010 and nominated Kim Tae-ho, who at the time was in his 40s, as the next prime minister. Kim's predecessor, Chung Un-chan, had resigned after failing to win over the National Assembly on a revised plan to build a new administrative capital in Sejong.


The move was intended to halt the drop in Lee's public favorability ratings. However, his numbers continued to tank when Kim withdrew himself from consideration amid personal controversies.

President Park Geun-hye spent her first vacation in 2013 on Jeodo Island, South Gyeongsang, a favorite retreat of her late father, former president Park Chung Hee.

The president’s office at the time released a picture of the younger Park writing “Memories of Jeodo Island” in the sand of the beach.

Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in telegraphed public messages through the books they read during their vacations.

One of the books Roh took on his vacation in 2003 was “Democracy After Democratization,” by Korea University political science professor Choi Jang-jip.

Moon in 2017 wrote on Facebook that he read “Myeonggyeon Manri,” a collection of lectures on a wide range of topics, from politics to sports, that aired on national broadcaster KBS.

“It is a three-part book, but I would recommend anyone to read it,” Moon wrote. “It's easy to read and fun.”

“President Yoon faces a large number of important issues, including reforming and reshuffling his Cabinet before the general election and executing the three major reforms [of labor unions, education and pensions],” said political commentator Eom Kyeong-young. “Changes could emerge in the government after Yoon’s vacation.”

BY PARK TAE-IN, LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]