Moon greets New Year with the people
President Moon held a New Year’s gathering at the KBIZ Korea Federation of SMEs under the slogan ‘Richer, Safer and Peaceful Korea’. 11 outstanding persons of the year 2018 opened the gathering with their New Year’s wishes on screen including, the Vietnamese national football team manager Park Hang-seo, the firefighter Choi Gil-su, the division commander Jeon Yoo-gwan charged in removing GP and the PyeongChang 2018 volunteer Seo Hae-hee.

Moon said “We might all have felt how many hopes a peaceful mood can create last year. But the peace we have here is not yet fulfilled. Therefore, I will keep trying my best to make the year 2019 a big wave of irreversible peace.”

300 officials of public and private institutions and organizations attended on the day with special guests Biba Republica (Toss) CEO Lee Seung-gun, Bear Better (200 employees (80%) have developmental disability) CEO Lee Jin-hee, police trainee Kim Sung-eun, firefighter Park Dong-chun and postman Kim Yong-sik. A number of descendants of independence activists were also present. 

Moon climbs Nam Mountain for sunrise
President Moon climbed Nam Mountain to see the New Year’s sunrise. Moon is known to be a lover of sunrise watching who has traveled many sunrise hotspots in Korea. Some of the favorite places he pointed out are Jeongdongjin in Gangwon Province, Seongsan Ilchulbong in Jeju, Boriam in Namhae County, Sujong Temple in Namyangju City and Ganjeolgot and Daeunsan in Busan.

In the morning on 2nd January, he visited the Seoul National Cemetery, with Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon, Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki, Chief Presidential Secretary Lim Jong-seok and a number of other high officials, to pay a respect to those who died for the country. 

Moon has luncheon with party leaders
President Moon invited leaders of the Democratic Party to a luncheon at the Blue House to share opinions on current political and economic affairs. 

Park Kwang-on said “It is more effective to send out Employment Subsidy earlier or quarterly. Sul Hoon said “Jobs in Gwangju is very important and I hope Mr. President to take a leading role.”Kim Hae-young said “Young generation’s demand for fairness is very high. Also, it might be the time that we introduced the 12 graded school system.”

Nam In-soon said “People around me say that Mr. President alone seems to be working hard. Let us spur up ourselves and bring more policies and results.”Lee Soo-jin said “We need to establish a labor-related committee to reflect their voices.”Lee Hyung-suk said “We need to make clear whether the 52 working hours per week is contributing to the hardship of small business owners.”

President Moon said “The most important thing is to bring results. We are working on supportive measures on minimum wage and shorter working hours and are expecting positive results gradually. Also, effective communication between the Blue House and the party is very important to draw substantial results and I will make this communication more frequently.”