SEOUL– President Yoon Suk-yeol will receive a policy briefing from the education ministry as initially planned after postponing it earlier to take care of public safety and COVID-19 issues ahead of his vacation next week, officials said Thursday.
Education Minister Park Soon-ae will brief the president Friday in line with a request from the ministry that it would take too long to wait until after he returns from his vacation, a presidential official said.
“As the president has been trying to get as much done before his vacation as possible, there was some confusion in the schedule in the process,” the official told reporters.
Earlier in the day, another presidential official told reporters the policy briefing had been postponed from Friday until after the president returned from his vacation next week.
Instead, Yoon planned to visit a police station Friday to check public safety conditions and also monitor the situation with the resurgence of COVID-19, the presidential office later added in a notice to the press.
“These programs were arranged as an advance inspection so that the people can have a safe and healthy vacation season,” it said.
This was the third time Yoon had postponed a scheduled policy briefing, after those of the gender ministry and the unification ministry. The president has been receiving his first set of reports from ministries following his inauguration in May.
The decision led to speculation Yoon was trying to avoid his daily Q&A sessions with the press, which take place as he arrives at his office every morning, by scheduling in events that take place externally. All policy briefings are held at his office.
Yoon has not had a Q&A session since his text conversation with acting ruling People Power Party leader Kweon Seong-dong was caught on press cameras Tuesday, exposing his criticism of the party’s suspended chairman, Lee Jun-seok.
“These are all things that the president has to urgently take care of before he leaves for vacation, and the programs were arranged because he has special instructions regarding both COVID-19 and public safety,” the second presidential official said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency