SEOUL: President Lee Jae Myung on Friday (Oct 16) reaffirmed his commitment to keeping Cabinet meetings open to the public, expressing "deep regret over false claims" that live broadcasts were preventing ministers from speaking freely.
Lee defended the practice, insisting that broadcasting Cabinet meetings live did not prevent ministers from openly challenging him or expressing dissent.
"We are making part of the Cabinet meetings open to the public, in whom sovereignty rests, and I cannot agree with calls from some quarters to hold the meetings entirely behind closed doors," Lee wrote in a post on X.
“What are your thoughts on this?” he added, inviting the public to weigh in on the controversy
His remarks came a day after the Hankook Ilbo reported that about 10 Cabinet ministers had asked Prime Minister Han Seong-sook to urge Lee to scale back live broadcasts of Cabinet meetings. The report said the ministers feared that openly challenging the president could cause him to lose face and lead to policy decisions being made without sufficient deliberation.
The newspaper also reported that some ministers had raised concerns about Lee's frequent use of social media to communicate policy positions.
In a lengthy post on X titled "On the controversy over public cabinet meetings," Lee disputed key details of the report.
"According to what I've been told, apart from one minister saying at a dinner hosted by the prime minister that 'holding Cabinet meetings in public is difficult,' reports that ministers had requested an end to public (broadcasts) or raised concerns about (my frequent use of) social media appear to be untrue," Lee wrote.
Lee further rejected allegations that televised Cabinet meetings were stifling debate, pointing to his administration's efforts to encourage a wider range of views.
"We have been expanding participation by amending regulations to hear more opinions and counterarguments and facilitate substantive discussions," Lee said. "The public has also seen ministers openly challenge the president's views."
Lee went on to say, "I deeply regret the false claims that making Cabinet meetings public is preventing ministers from speaking freely."
Lee likened those uncomfortable with direct communication between the public and elected officials to "middlemen who find direct transactions between producers and consumers inconvenient."
"I fully understand that. But I cannot agree to blocking direct transactions simply to protect middlemen's profit margins," Lee said.
Lee further pointed out that "it is also untrue that ministers cannot speak freely because the meetings are public.”
“Closed-door sessions always follow, so anything that cannot be said in public can be raised in those private sessions," he said. "I also encourage ministers to call or message me individually if there are things they find difficult to say even in closed-door meetings. They can speak freely during one-on-one lunches or meetings as well."
Lee underscored the responsibility of public officials to speak up when they believed something was wrong, noting that remaining silent amounted to an evasion of their public duties.
"If a public official entrusted with responsibilities by the people believes that another public official is doing something that needs to be corrected but fails to point it out, that amounts to either a selfish evasion of responsibility or a betrayal of the public's trust," he wrote.
"I am confident that, at least under this administration, there is no Cabinet minister who cannot say what needs to be said to the president."
Rather than constraining ministers, Lee said, public Cabinet meetings offered them an opportunity to demonstrate their competence and commitment to the public.
"Public meetings are also an opportunity to showcase Cabinet ministers' dedication and capabilities to the public," he wrote. "Many ministers are making good use of that opportunity."
Lee also noted that Cabinet meetings were already structured to accommodate sensitive discussions, with private sessions held after the public portions.
"Cabinet meetings have separate closed-door sessions following the public sessions, where matters requiring confidentiality or issues that might put ministers in uncomfortable positions are discussed," he said.
"As a matter of principle, all government administration, including the conduct of state affairs, should be open to the public. The minutes of Cabinet meetings have long been made public," he said.
Lee's administration became the first in Korea to live stream substantive Cabinet discussions in July 2025, breaking with the long-standing practice of making only the president's opening remarks public while keeping the rest of the proceedings behind closed doors.
The broadcasts have grown considerably longer, from one hour and 15 minutes during the first televised session on July 29, 2025, to a record four hours and 42 minutes on May 20, 2026.
The move was part of Lee's broader push to make government decision-making more transparent and allow the public to observe policy deliberations firsthand.
Lee's remarks on the controversy over live broadcasts of Cabinet meetings came after the prime minister's office rejected the media report Thursday, saying that ministers were free to express dissent and that Lee actively welcomed differing views. - The Korea Herald/ANN
