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President Park spends vacation studying policy reports

Posted August. 04, 2015 07:20,   

한국어

President Park Geun-hye has resumed her official duty Monday by meeting with Katsuya Okada, leader of Japan`s opposition Democratic Party, after taking a five-day vacation. Officials at her office Cheong Wa Dae say that the vacation was a "summer school" for her, as she stayed at her official residence, spending most of the time checking major policy and political agendas ahead of reaching the halfway point in her term in office.

"She started and finished a day perusing reports throughout her summer vacation," a Cheong Wa Dae official said.

According to the official, the president checked daily media report summaries handed by her secretaries as soon as she wakes up at 6:30 every morning. When certain articles attracted her attention, she picked up the actual newspapers to read them in full. She even read certain dailies from the front page to the last.

After checking public opinion by reading newspapers for about two hours, she started perusing policy reports mostly on four major structural reforms involving labor, finance, the public sector and education, and 24 key policy tasks. Another Cheong Wa Dae official noted that the president "allocated really plenty of time" on labor reform. In addition, she also carefully reviewed her congratulatory speech and proposed special pardons marking the 70th anniversary of national liberation from Japan`s colonial rule.

When she needed further clarifications or had issues with the reports, she telephoned her senior secretaries, including her chief of staff, to ask questions. However, she did not call those who were also on vacation, according to Cheong Wa Dae officials.

They said that even after spending a whole day reading the reports, she occasionally took some of them to her bed.

She is expected to unveil the ideas she had during the vacation at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. For starters, the meeting will discuss a proposal that August 14, a day before the National Liberation Day, be declared a temporary holiday to commemorate Korea`s independence from Japan`s colonial rule. The government is considering making all highways toll-free on August 14 and 15, if the proposal is approved by the Cabinet.



mhpark@donga.com