SEOUL– President Yoon Suk Yeol addressed the graduating class of Yonsei University on Monday, saying he will create a fairer society free from the “cartels of those with vested rights.”
In his commencement address, Yoon also asked the graduating students to march together toward innovation with the aim of adjusting the country’s systems and institutions to the global standards of innovative and advanced nations.
“Innovation is achieved when we break up the cartels of those with vested rights, create a freer and fairer system, and practice it together,” he said before some 1,300 graduates and school officials.
“Innovation is bound to be accompanied by the resistance of those with vested rights. When we have the will and courage to overcome this, that is when we can realize innovation,” he added.
Yoon said it would be difficult to expect innovation and speak of the future if laws are trampled on, anti-intellectualism flourishes and rent-seeking by those with vested rights is left unaddressed.
“The government and I will do our best to change and reform our society to make it freer and fairer so that all of you can dream and speak of the future,” he said, citing his administration’s efforts to prioritize labor, education and pension reforms.
Yoon also recalled his personal memories of Yonsei University, where his father was once a professor of the College of Commerce and Economics.
“I did my vacation homework and solved math problems in my father’s office,” he said. “I also deeply immersed myself in contemplation and meditation on Yonsei’s beautiful campus and shared special friendships with many members of Yonsei.”
It was the first time Yoon attended a commencement ceremony since his inauguration, and the first time a president gave a commencement address at Yonsei University, according to his office.
Source: Yonhap News Agency