President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday stressed that managing the COVID-19 pandemic is the utmost priority for the presidential transition team, as the committee began its 53-day run.

Speaking in the first general meeting of the committee, Yoon requested the special committee in charge of handling the COVID-19 crisis to focus on the damage compensation system for sole proprietors, and preventive measures to control the spread of the disease, citing the surging COVID-19 cases here.

“Not only is it important to draw up the blueprint for the country to spearhead in the fourth industrial revolution, but it is also important for the committee to look into the country’s slow growth rate and polarization to come up with medium- and long-term plans to resolve them,” Yoon said.

Ahn Cheol-soo, the committee chairman, vowed to do his best, saying the success of the transition committee would be the success of the new government.

“It is 53 days before the inauguration, and I believe we will have to work without holidays and weekends. I ask for all of you to be determined to take on the task and I will also do my best,” Ahn said.

Ahn also requested that the committee members withhold from expressing personal opinions to the public in their process of setting up the government goals.

At the general meeting, the committee passed two proposals, on the operation regulations of the committee and the budget.

The transition committee will hold a general meeting every Monday at 10 a.m., and the meeting of the subcomittee chiefs and the chairman will be held every day, the committee spokesman’s office said.

Before the meeting, the presidential committee held a signboard hanging ceremony at the committee’s headquarters set up at the Financial Advisory Service’s training center in Tongui-dong, Jongno in Seoul.

Yoon and Ahn Cheol-soo were present, along with the committee’s vice chairman Rep. Kwon Young-se and other committee members. Lee Jun-seok, the chairman of the main opposition People Power Party, with which the president-elect is affiliated, was also present.

In the afternoon, Yoon had a luncheon with the People Power Party leadership including the chairman, floor leader Rep. Kim Ki-hyun, and chief policymaker Yu Eui-dong, and Chung Jin-suk, the parliamentary vice speaker.