President Moon Jae-in is holding a New Year’s press conference at the Blue House on January 14, 2020. Provided by the Blue House
President Moon Jae-in’s New Year’s press conference will be held on the 18th. As President Moon exchanges questions and answers with reporters after a year, attention is focused on what answers he will give not only to state affairs but also to sensitive issues such as real estate policy, former president’s amnesty, and the disciplinary case of Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol. At this interview, President Moon took 100 minutes to receive questions from reporters in the fields of quarantine, society, politics, economy, diplomacy, and security. The interview is conducted with a’no script’, such as not collecting questions in advance. Considering the Corona 19 situation, only 20 reporters participated in the conference, and 100 reporters attended by video. As the Blue House conducted an online press conference for the first time, it conducted pre-rehearsal four times to check video, audio, and internet access. At this conference, the Blue House plans to explain in detail how to reduce the pain of the people’s livelihoods shocked by Corona 19 and the direction of state administration at the end of the term. In addition, the staff reportedly reported to President Moon, summarizing the questions and answers expected by reporters. Among the anticipated questions, the issue of the amnesty of former Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, which was set on fire by Democratic Party representative Lee Nak-yeon. President Moon emphasized’inclusion’ in his New Year’s address on the 11th, but did not comment on the amnesty. The Blue House said on the 14th that after the Supreme Court sentence for former President Park came out, it was not appropriate to comment on the pardon as soon as the Supreme Court ruling came out. At this New Year’s press conference, it was reported that President Moon was preparing to remark on the pardon in the form of answers to questions, but Cheong Wa Dae officials said that there will be no surprise declarations such as “I will make the pardon”. Previously, in an interview on the 13th by Choi Jae-sung, the head of politics, there is a prospect that President Moon would not answer at the level where he said in an interview on the 13th, “Should we have to do it from the public’s perspective?” Real estate issues, such as rising house prices, are also cited as the main questions of this conference. President Moon is expected to reiterate his intention to take good care of supply measures as well as his position on real estate at this conference. In his New Year’s speech, President Moon made his first apology regarding real estate, saying, “I am very sorry to the people who are disheartened by the difficulties of housing.” At the time, the expression’regrettable heart’ was said to have been put in by the president himself. An official at the Blue House said, “At the conference, the President will not specifically address the supply plan as the Democratic Party and the government are working on measures to supply real estate.” President Moon’s response to the controversy over the disciplinary case for Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol is also of interest. This is because there were points that the president’s political leadership was not seen when the confrontation between former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae and President Yoon was prolonged. On the 25th of last month, President Moon repeatedly stated the purpose of saying, “I apologize as a person in charge for causing confusion,” immediately after the court decided to suspend the execution of “President Yoon’s suspension of two months”. It is expected that the mediation plan and the’institutional settlement’ of the high-ranking public officials criminal investigation agency that nominated the head of the chief executive officer. An official at the Blue House said, “The President will be refreshingly answering the questions of the people at this conference.” By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter