President Lee Orders "Audits and Full Inspections Over Unpaid Appropriate Wages for Local Government Sanitation Workers"

President Lee Jaemyung is speaking at a Senior Presidential Secretaries' Meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on the 19th. Yonhap News

On the 19th, President Lee Jaemyung ordered a thorough fact-finding investigation, including audits and full-scale inspections, stating that regulations guaranteeing appropriate wages for local government sanitation workers are not being observed.

Blue House spokesperson Kim Namjoon said that President Lee issued these instructions at the Senior Secretaries' Meeting that day. Kim also said that President Lee ordered that, "If there are problems, strictly discipline those responsible and take measures to ensure that unpaid wages can be paid swiftly."

Spokesperson Kim added, "He also ordered a review to determine whether there are similar cases in other local governments," explaining that "this is intended to ensure that such practices are rooted out."

Measures for performance- and participation-based strategic budgeting were also discussed. Spokesperson Kim explained that this is "a task to establish a strategic resource allocation system that supports the achievement of policy goals of the Lee Jaemyung administration, while maintaining an expansionary fiscal stance."

President Lee also reviewed strategies for securing science and technology talent to respond to the global competition for technological supremacy. In particular, it is reported that he emphasized systematically attracting overseas talent under state leadership, as well as fostering domestic talent through inter-ministerial cooperation.

Spokesperson Kim said, "There was discussion on improving the efficiency of research and development (R&D) investment methods and on building a system for attracting overseas talent."