South Korea's Lee rejects calls to close cabinet meetings to public

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung rejected calls to make cabinet meetings entirely private on 16 October, saying openness should be the principle for administration. In a post on X responding to controversy over public cabinet sessions, Lee said he deeply regretted claims that the arrangement prevented ministers from speaking freely. He said cabinet minutes had already been made public in the past and defended the public portion of meetings as a way for citizens to see ministers' work and capabilities. [ 2 , 5 ]

Lee was responding to media reports that ministers at a dinner hosted by the prime minister had raised concerns about public sessions and asked for coverage to be reduced. He said that, apart from one minister saying public meetings were difficult, reports of a request to stop public access and discussion of social media appeared not to be true. Public sessions are followed by closed meetings, he said, where security-sensitive matters or issues that could put ministers in a difficult position are discussed. He added that ministers could telephone or message him individually when they found it difficult to raise a matter even in a private meeting. [ 2 , 5 ]

The president said he was confident that no cabinet member in his government was unable to say what needed to be said to him. Ministers should understand their own responsibilities, he argued, although they could not be expected to know every detailed figure. He said he had repeatedly urged them to acknowledge what they did not know rather than pretend otherwise. Lee described public meetings as direct communication between elected officials and citizens, comparing it to direct transactions between producers and consumers. He also said officials who failed to point out problems requiring correction were avoiding responsibility or acting against public trust. [ 2 , 5 ]