Presidential Transition Team should produce more concrete outcomes

It has been one month since President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s Presidential Transition Team was put together, but little has been achieved so far. “We are working harder than any other Presidential Transition Team,” says Ahn Cheol-soo, who leads the team, but it is difficult to say exactly what achievements have been mad

The Transition Team was re-established in a decade. With change of government taking place by a marginal vote difference amid the opposition party being a majority, there has been much public attention as to how the new government would run the nation under new visions and plan. A key task of the Transition Team was to determine bi-partisan national agenda, come up with detailed execution plans, attract and win public attention and support.

Plans shared by the Transition Team over the past month include removing official residence for provincial government heads, abolishing the Korean age, extending loans and repayment due date of small business owners impacted by COVID-19, extending the grace period for removing the use of disposable cups at cafés and restaurants. Though such plans are important and impact daily living, they are far from five-year national plans. None of the plans are related to creative national agenda or key policy issues.

Such outcomes are partly to be accountable by Yoon himself. By putting too much focus on opening the Blue House to the public and plans to relocate the presidential office to Yongsan, national issues garnered more attention than policy issues. There were cases of confronting with the outgoing government on personnel affairs. When a close aide to Ahn was excluded as a minister nominee, the People Power Party member involved in unifying the Yoon-Ahn team resigned from the Transition Team. Though the relationship survived with Yoon and Ahn meeting for dinner, there are still lingering conflicts.

We are only three weeks away from the start of a new government, which is tasked with responsibilities of dealing with global security and economic risks and reviving growth engines. The new government should not make indiscriminate promises to attract public attention. We need to stay alerts and prepare for a new start.