President Yoon Suk Yeol made a surprise appearance at a luncheon for reporters on Tuesday and shared his thoughts about marking one year in office next week.
Yoon sat with presidential office reporters on a lawn inside the office compound as the journalists had lunch following a press tour of Yongsan Children's Garden. The garden is effectively a park adjacent to the compound and will open to the public on Thursday.
"Through the criticism and the encouragement, it's already been a year," Yoon said as he addressed the more than 150 reporters gathered.
"I plan to reflect on things like how much and in what ways our country and society have changed, to what extent it's become more lively and warm, able to give dreams to our future generations, become more just and fair, and secured our security and our society's safety," he said.
Over the next year, Yoon said he plans to speed up in areas where change is slow, and make adjustments in areas where the direction of change needs adjustment.
Yoon will mark his first year in office on May 10.
He recalled that in his first months in office, he met with reporters on a near-daily basis as he took questions on his way to work.
The Q&A sessions were suspended in November after an MBC reporter clashed with a presidential official for shouting a question at the president's back.
"Aren't you a bit sorry now that we don't meet? I started to gain weight," he joked.
Yoon said his habit of waking up early in the morning to prepare for the Q&As stuck with him and he still gets up early to read the morning's newspapers and ask questions to his staff.
"I am sure I fell short in many areas, but I hope you will help me," he told the reporters.
On marking his first year in office, Yoon said he will think about holding a press conference, but that he has told his staff not to make the day a celebration of what his administration has achieved.
"If it's a press meeting where I can just talk with you over beer, that's a different story, but if it's about handing out releases and boasting, that wouldn't be a courtesy to the people," he said. (Yonhap)
