|
SEOUL, KOREA - SOUTH Korea's new President Lee Myung-Bak is putting his pragmatic thinking into practice by reducing formalities and protocol in state affairs, his office said on Friday.
Mr Lee, 66, who took office on Monday as the nation's first president from a business background, has stressed 'creative pragmatism' in his approach to government.
At a meeting of senior aides on Friday, he instructed his security team not to keep him under strict guard and ordered less protocol in official events outside his residence, spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan told reporters.
He also vowed to make frequent field inspections and asked presidential staff to report to him directly on urgent matters rather than through their chiefs.
'I am afraid that an extended stay in the presidential residence may dull my sense of the field. We should always listen to the voice of the people,' Mr Lee was quoted as saying by the spokesman.
In a break with tradition, he has suggested he would stay out of the palatial official residence known as the Blue House at weekends so he can get a first-hand understanding of people's lives.
At the first meeting of aides on Wednesday, Mr Lee abolished the hierarchical seating plan and officials were seated on a first-come, first-served basis.
He instructed aides and cabinet members to simply call him 'President' instead of 'Mr President' in all government documents and on public occasions.
Mr Lee has also ordered the replacement of luxury cabinet room chairs with utility furniture.
He put his ideas into practice during a commissioning ceremony on Thursday for military cadets.
Cadets and their parents were seated in the VIP section, displacing military generals and senior government officials.
Mr Lee experienced severe childhood poverty and worked part-time at manual jobs to put himself through school and university. He went on to become a construction executive and mayor of Seoul. -- AFP
| 
