South Korean President Lee again opposes ending live broadcasts of cabinet meetings

Seoul, Oct 18 (IANS) South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Sunday reaffirmed his opposition over ending the livestreams of cabinet meetings, saying he is open to all opinions exchanged during the meetings.

Lee’s remarks came just days after he wrote on his X account that he disagrees with the need to end the livestreams, calling a recent news report on alleged calls from cabinet members to end them a “false claim.”

“It is difficult to understand why they are pressing against disclosing part of the Cabinet meetings by even lying that ‘Cabinet members cannot speak up because the meetings are public,'” the president wrote in a message on X.

He also shared a YouTube broadcast opposing such calls and introducing cases in which Lee embraces opposing opinions from Cabinet members during the meetings, Yonhap News Agency reported.

“I have intentionally increased the number of participants by a significant number to listen to various opinions regarding state affairs,” Lee said.

“I have always liked debates and especially respected people who propose opposing views,” he said, adding he has always emphasised the role of people with opposing views to prevent problems within an organisation.

On Thursday, the South Korean Prime Minister’s office denied a news report that some government members have raised complaints that it is difficult for them to object to what the president says during Cabinet meetings as the sessions are broadcast live.

The Hankook Ilbo daily carried the report that about 10 ministers raised such complaints during a dinner meeting with Prime Minister Han Seong-sook earlier this month and asked for the live broadcasting of Cabinet meetings to be curtailed to allow for healthy policy debates.

The prime minister’s office denied the report, saying, “The government is live-broadcasting Cabinet meeting discussions for the first time in history, and this is aimed at transparently making the running of state affairs public and actively reflecting the opinions of the people in government policy.”

“Regarding the agenda discussed at Cabinet meetings, members of the Cabinet are freely expressing their views and the president is actively accepting them,” it added.

–IANS

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