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🇰🇷 South Korea /Elections & Politics

President Lee: 'We Must Discover Productive Public Service Jobs'

From Hankyoreh · (5m ago) Korean

Translated from Korean, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has directed government ministries to identify and create productive public service jobs.
  • He emphasized that even small-scale job creation, such as hiring a few individuals, can collectively amount to significant employment opportunities.
  • The President also addressed issues of teacher's rights, school safety, and corporate social responsibility, urging proactive solutions.

President Lee Jae-myung's directive to actively seek out and establish 'productive public service jobs' reflects a proactive approach to addressing employment challenges in South Korea. Speaking at the 18th State Council meeting, which also served as the 6th Emergency Economic Inspection Meeting, President Lee highlighted the current scarcity of both quality and quantity in public service employment, urging ministries to meticulously identify opportunities, even for small teams of five or ten people.

In an era where jobs are scarce, South Korea has both poor quality and insufficient quantity of jobs in the public service sector. I ask each ministry to discover productive public service jobs.

— President Lee Jae-myungDirecting government ministries to create new employment opportunities.

The President cited examples like the National Tax Service's delinquent taxpayer management teams and industrial safety wardens as areas ripe for expansion. He underscored the economic rationale behind such initiatives, pointing out that hiring personnel to collect overdue taxes, even a fraction of the estimated 100 trillion won in arrears, could yield substantial returns, far outweighing the costs. Similarly, he argued that investing in social safety roles, such as industrial accident prevention and suicide prevention initiatives, is not only economically sound but also crucial for improving South Korea's international standing, given its high rates of industrial accidents and suicides.

It doesn't matter if it's 5 or 10 people. If you gather them, it's a huge number.

— President Lee Jae-myungEmphasizing that even small-scale job creation efforts can aggregate into significant employment.

Beyond employment, President Lee addressed other critical social issues. He called for swift measures to strengthen teachers' rights and authority, linking public education's normalization to the protection of educators' human rights. He also urged creative solutions, such as hiring additional safety personnel or volunteers, to address parental concerns about safety during school trips and excursions, likening the situation to not discarding a kimchi jar for fear of maggots. Furthermore, he encouraged greater corporate social responsibility, suggesting a system to track and publicize companies' social contribution expenditures, drawing inspiration from India's model.

Normalizing public education starts with guaranteeing the human rights and authority of teachers, not just students.

— President Lee Jae-myungAddressing the issue of teacher's rights and authority in schools.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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