What really matters is substance, not style

The town hall meetings must function as a tool to form a consensus on government policies, not as a means to show off the president’s field trips.

President Yoon Suk Yeol resumed his town hall meetings after a 49-day break. The theme of the 25th meeting on Tuesday was how to protect nonunionized workers at companies, as well as delivery workers, platform workers and freelancers outside the union. Addressing the dual labor market is a top priority in our labor reform. If the polarized labor market is left unattended, it will only widen the gap in wages and income, deepen wealth disparities and eventually prompt a democracy crisis. We welcome the president’s recognition of labor reform as a “national task.”

Earlier on Labor Day, May 1, a paid holiday, the two major unions — the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions — staged massive rallies together in downtown Seoul. However, nonunionized workers or most platform employees had to work that day, too. They could not even enjoy the holiday for all workers. As of 2022, only 13.1 percent of Korean companies have labor unions. It is time for the government to devise worker-friendly labor policies for the remaining 87 percent.

We understand why the president declared the start of “season two” of his town hall meetings from Tuesday. But he must not repeat his past mistakes. The president seems to take pride in having crisscrossed the country over a distance of 5,570 kilometers (3,461 miles) so far.

But what matters is substance, not style. In his past town hall meetings, he proposed more than 300 policies — including the expansion of scholarships from government coffers and the construction of a Korean equivalent of Germany’s Autobahn — without any preliminary study of their feasibility. As a result, government ministries were busy catching up with the presidential rush.

The president’s field trips are important. But if they are abused without preparation, they may backfire. On a recent trip to a traditional market in Seoul, the president immediately ordered one of his aides to find a solution when a merchant complained about excessive fees from a card-type voucher that they must accept. That scene reminds us of the Moon Jae-in administration pressuring credit card companies to lower their fees.

Yoon’s town hall meetings should be backed by practicability. It is not desirable if he wants to do what his subordinates can do. Instead, the president must do what only he can do. He must change his field trips into a venue for the government to let the people know its policy direction along with experts’ in-depth analysis and advice. The town hall meetings must function as a tool to form a consensus on government policies, not as a means to show off the president’s field trips.