President Lee: "Even with Different Factions and Fierce Competition, We Are Partners Who Must Join Forces"

▲ President Lee Jae-myung salutes during the national anthem at the first Ulchi Cabinet meeting held at the Blue House on the 18th.

President Lee Jae-myung stated, "It is time to join hands together to build an 'irreplaceable South Korea' rather than engaging in harmful political strife that turns away from people's lives and treats each other with hostility."

Presiding over a Cabinet meeting at the Blue House, President Lee made the remarks, calling on "all political circles exercising the rights of the people on their behalf to cooperate closely to improve the people's livelihoods, carry out uninterrupted reforms against unfairness and abnormality, and realize a global super-gap powerhouse."

President Lee said, "Ironclad national security, flawless disaster preparedness, and sustainable economic growth are not easy unless we unite the hearts of the people," adding, "To achieve this, we must consistently listen to the voices of the sovereign people and strive to find major commonalities rather than minor differences to uphold the will of the people."

He continued, "People's opinions may differ and conflicts may arise, but broadly speaking, we are all a community of fate that must join forces for a better life for the people and a better future for the country," emphasizing, "Even if our parties differ, our factions differ, and we have engaged in fierce competition against one another, our responsibilities as partners bearing the joint responsibility for the people and the nation are no different."

He also added, "Homogeneity and heterogeneity coexist among people," and "If we start looking for differences, we drift apart endlessly, but if we start looking for similarities, we draw closer endlessly."

This is interpreted as a call to heal the heightened internal party conflicts following the conclusion of the Democratic Party's national convention the previous day, while also requesting cooperation from the opposition bloc regarding people's livelihoods.

Regarding the torrential rain that poured over the southern regions over the weekend, President Lee instructed, "Please take good care of recovery measures for areas with heavy damage, including Geoje."

He noted, "Meteorological disasters such as record-breaking heatwaves, droughts, and heavy rains occurring simultaneously are becoming the norm," adding, "It is now time to approach climate issues from the perspective of national security."

He went on to urge, "The modernization of systems tailored to past climates is urgent," and "We must sufficiently reinforce infrastructure such as dams, reservoirs, river embankments, and sewage pipes to a level capable of withstanding extreme climate disasters, and refine climate prediction models through the utilization of artificial intelligence technology and the securing of additional meteorological satellites."

Furthermore, he emphasized, "We must also focus on establishing a national system to predict the occurrence of disasters and prepare preemptively," ordering the expansion of related budgets and personnel, as well as institutional improvements.

(Photo: Press Corps of the Blue House, Yonhap News)

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