To mark the sixth-month anniversary of the Lee administration, President Lee Jae Myung's aides like Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik (picture) on Dec. 7 held a briefing at the Office of the President in Seoul to list his accomplishments to date. (Yonhap News)

By Yoon Sojung

The Office of the President in Seoul on Dec. 7 held a media event on the first six months of President Lee Jae Myung's term to list his accomplishments in diplomacy, economy and society.

The office called the past half year a "journey of normalizing the nation" and said next year will go beyond recovery as the "first year of a leap forward" with the government actively pursuing national tasks.

"We dedicated our efforts over the past six months to restoring the people's daily life and normalizing the country," Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik said. "Along with normalization, this has been a process of overhauling overall national governance."

"The government has focused on restoring the collapsed public economy" he added, highlighting livelihood recovery vouchers, 4,000-point milestone by the main stock market KOSPI and annual exports nearing an unprecedented USD 700 billion.

He later praised the administration's efforts to revive summit diplomacy, saying, "Our faltering diplomacy and national security are both back on solid ground."

The official also said the government spurred reform of the democratic system to achieve "just national unity" based on reflection and responsibility.

In a report on performance by sector, National Security Office Director Wi Sung-lac mentioned Korea's attendance of the G7 summit of top economies immediately after President Lee took office, presidency of the United Nations Security Council and the successful hosting of this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province.

"We announced to the world the return of the democratic Republic of Korea on the international stage," he added.

"(President Lee's) unprecedented trip to the U.S. via Japan instantly solidified our ties with both Japan and the U.S. and fully restored our relations with China," he said.

He also cited as the Lee administration's achievements the conclusion of tariff negotiations with Washington, American approval of Korean construction of nuclear-powered submarines, and support for uranium enrichment and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.

Turning to inter-Korean relations, Director Wi said, "We will push ahead with the resumption of inter-Korean dialogue and start with determination the process of peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula," adding, "As a pacemaker, we will closely communicate with the U.S. and take active measures to build inter-Korean trust."

"Growth engines have been turned back on," Presidential Chief of Staff for Policy Kim Yong-beom said. "Since they were launched in 2006, the four indicators of economic sentiment, the stock market, real economy and distribution have simultaneously recovered in both the macroeconomy and the people's livelihood."

On national governance tasks by sector, he added, "We will develop the content of the K-culture era into a national strategic industry," setting the goals of raising the number of tourists visiting the country and ushering in the era of 30 million visitors per year.

Shifting to artificial intelligence (AI), the official said, "From next year, we will play a leading role in the Republic of Korea's vision for a global AI-based society by an AI innovation ecosystem," adding, "We will do everything so that President Lee's national agenda can be fully implemented from next year."

arete@korea.kr