Office of the President: "President Lee's New Year's Press Conference Is the Longest Since Civilian Government"

On the 21st, citizens are watching the live broadcast of President Lee Jae-myung's New Year's press conference in the Seoul Station concourse, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. 2026.01.21 Photo by Yoon Dongju

The Office of the President announced on the 21st that President Lee Jaemyung's New Year's press conference, held earlier that day, was "the longest press conference since the establishment of civilian government."

Lee Guyoun, Senior Presidential Secretary for Public Relations and Communication, made this statement in a press release that afternoon. According to the Office of the President, the press conference lasted for 2 hours and 53 minutes, during which President Lee answered a total of 25 questions. At the 30-day post-inauguration press conference, President Lee answered 15 questions over 2 hours and 4 minutes, and at the 100-day press conference, he answered 22 questions over 2 hours and 34 minutes.

The press conference, which began at 10 a.m., was originally scheduled to last 90 minutes. However, it concluded at around 12:53 p.m., as President Lee expressed his willingness to continue taking questions.

Meanwhile, during the Q&A session, Senior Secretary Lee provided additional explanations regarding support measures for regional broadcasters, which President Lee was unable to elaborate on due to time constraints.

Senior Secretary Lee stated, "President Lee instructed that regional small and medium-sized broadcasters should receive enough production funding to create at least one documentary that reflects local sentiment as the center of regional culture," adding, "Accordingly, the relevant ministries have jointly prepared support measures."

He further explained, "This year, the budget for regional small and medium-sized broadcasters has been set at 20.2 billion won, an increase of 12.2 billion won from last year, which was around 8 billion won."