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President Lee Myung-bak broke with tradition and made no opening remarks at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. He remained silent throughout the meeting and at the end only briefly discussed his feelings on marking his 100th day in office.
"We have spent 100 days in office," Lee told his Cabinet. "We should be celebrating today, looking back on that time. Instead, we need to review ourselves. I think we have failed to understand exactly what the people want. I ask you to start anew and work harder." To his aides, he recently expressed regret over the ongoing U.S. beef uproar stalling ratification of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, which he said would serve as an economic steppingstone for Korea. "After all, we have to do what the people want," he added.
Former presidents have published booklets promoting their policies to mark their 100th day in office. There was no such booklet this year. President Lee has been more diligent than any other previous chief executive, based on the number of people he has met, addresses he has delivered and places he has visited. Yet rather than celebrating this milestone and enjoying public applause, he is facing protesters' cries in front of Cheong Wa Dae.
Presidential staffers who stayed at Cheong Wa Dae over the weekend said they were anxious that the president might happen to hear the demonstrators' harsh words against the resumption of U.S. beef imports. No staffer dared to presume what was on the president's mind as he stayed at the presidential residence with his wife Kim Yoon-ok Saturday night.
Lee's approval rating has fallen faster than that of any other South Korean president in their first 100 days in office. It is a disgraceful record for the man who won the presidential election by the widest margin in the nation's history.
Lee has admitted that the people are turning their backs on him and the government because of the president himself. He blamed himself for his faults in managing state affairs in a public statement on May 22.
A presidential official said that Lee has decided to attend fewer public functions and keep a quiet tongue. That is the starting point, he said. And at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, Lee presented the revitalization of the economy for ordinary people as the top policy priority.
"With unfavorable economic conditions like soaring oil prices, ordinary people are facing hard times," Lee said. "The most important point of the economic reinvigoration should be a focus on easing the burden of ordinary people." He called on his Cabinet and staff to view the current situation as an emergency and devise bold economic measures to impress and genuinely help ordinary people.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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