"Moon Jae-in Government's Crisis Response and Inter-Korean Relations Viewed as Successful"
Professor Jo Gisuk, Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha Womans University. Photo by Professor Jo, Facebook capture
[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Professor Cho Gisuk of Ewha Womans University, who served as the Blue House Chief of Public Relations under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, criticized the Moon Jae-in administration's failure in real estate policy and faced backlash from pro-Moon supporters. On the 29th, she stated, "I do not pay attention to irrational criticism."
On the same day, Professor Cho wrote on her Facebook, "I sometimes see people who put up President Moon's photo and claim to be supporters while engaging in power abuse and harsh language. I don't know if they are true supporters, but if they use harsh language, I can just block them," she said.
She continued, "What's wrong with some criticism? People's thoughts can differ, and they can criticize the content or the form of my writing," adding, "It is very arrogant to think that one can criticize others without being criticized in return."
Regarding suspicions that she deleted her critical post on the Moon administration's real estate policy due to the backlash from pro-Moon supporters, she refuted, saying, "I did not delete the Facebook post. I changed the post's visibility to 'Only Me' because I felt that the message I wanted to convey to the President had been sufficiently delivered, and I thought it was time to observe the government's response. It was also intended not to provide a platform for the media trying to politically escalate the real estate policy issue."
She added, "Above all, I was busy finishing a paper because the academic society's founding meeting is this Thursday, and I was consulting with staff all day preparing for the meeting. If I kept Facebook open, I wouldn't have time to read and respond to each comment, so I did that."
Professor Cho said, "The President is both a politician and the highest leader of the state. Is a politically successful president necessarily likely to succeed in policy as well? I am somewhat negative about that. I think the reason President Roh Moo-hyun succeeded in policy was paradoxically because he faced political difficulties. A politically successful president enjoys popularity and high approval during the term, but the more so, the higher the chance of policy mistakes."
She added, "Policy evaluations are mainly made after the term. When approval ratings are high, policy mistakes are tolerated, and aides may become complacent, mistakenly thinking everything is going well."
She said, "I consider the Moon Jae-in administration successful in crisis response and inter-Korean relations. But because of my affection, even if education was given up on, I hope at least the real estate policy can be moderately successful. It is a policy closely related to the people's lives and property," adding, "Even if approval ratings drop somewhat, I hope the policy succeeds and the president is historically recognized as successful."
Earlier, on the 28th, Professor Cho criticized the Moon Jae-in administration's real estate policy, saying, "It is necessary to check whether President Moon Jae-in's perception of real estate is accurate." After the post disappeared from her Facebook, some media raised suspicions that Professor Cho deleted it after being attacked by 'hardline pro-Moon' supporters.
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