Don’t fear holding a New Year press conference

Three weeks have passed since the start of the year. But the presidential office is still dillydallying over whether to hold President Yoon Suk Yeol’s New Year’s press conference — and how. In August 2022, Yoon had his first — and last — press conference on the 100th day after his inauguration. Last year, he substituted it with a New Year’s interview with a newspaper. But the president reportedly plans to do similarly this year — this time with KBS or KTV — which is not desirable.

A presidential interview with a certain media outlet based on a prearranged set of questions and answers gives the impression that the president wants to avoid sensitive questions. As KBS and KTV are public broadcasters friendly to the sitting power, such an interview can stir controversy over fairness. Former president Moon Jae-in had an exclusive New Year’s interview with KBS in January 2019, but was strongly criticized for “only presenting optimistic numbers about the economy without being questioned about the slowing economy and his appointment fiascoes.” Even liberal media organizations lambasted the interview for exposing the limits. We hope President Yoon does not follow in his footsteps.

The presidential office is reluctant to hold the press conference because it cannot give a clear answer to the first lady’s controversial reception of a luxury handbag from a liberal media outlet that secretly taped the moment. The presidential office could counterattack against the unfairness of the reporting scheme. But the real problem is that the handbag was not an official gift from other heads of state. Even the governing People Power Party (PPP)’s interim leader Han Dong-hoon admitted to a “certain degree of public concerns.”

A poll shows a majority of people supporting a special counsel investigation into several allegations against the first lady. Over 50 percent of the voters would cast their ballots in the April 10 parliamentary elections to punish the government and the PPP. The presidential office must squarely face the hostile atmosphere with less than three months left until the election. The presidential office must explain what happened and clear deepening suspicions before it’s too late.

French President Emanuel Macron took a different path. After shunning press conferences for five years since the massive anti-government protests in 2018, he held a large-scale press conference last week with more than 200 journalists during prime time to present solutions to problems France faces. He was willing to take the bull by the horns to demonstrate strong leadership to tackle the challenges the country faces.

We look forward to seeing President Yoon do the same.