Park stresses inter-governmental cooperation in Cabinet workshop

President Park Geun-hye asked her Cabinet Saturday to work out a new policy roadmap as quickly as possible to better serve people.

Park took office on Feb. 25 but her 17-member Cabinet could not be fully organized until earlier this week due to conflicts with opposition politicians over her government reorganization proposal.

On Saturday, Park addressed a meeting of about 100 senior presidential and government officials, including Prime Minister Chung Hong-won, to discuss ways to share the goal of her new government.

Appointees of newly created organizations, such as ministries of science and maritime affairs, were absent from the meeting, because the  government reorganization bill is still pending in parliament.

"It is important that not only ministers and vice ministers but also all public servants share the same policy philosophy," Park said during the meeting held at the government complex in central Seoul. "You should grasp new tasks as soon as possible and make preparations for disasters and accidents."

Park ordered the senior officials to closely work with other ministries and prepare long-term road maps and detailed policy goals for this year to meet people's expectations.

Negotiations are currently underway on how to reach a compromise on the controversial government reorganization bill which calls for cable channels, Internet TV and other broadcasting outlets to be transfered from the watchdog Korea Communications Commission to a new ministry to be created.

Park has repeatedly stressed that the convergence of broadcasting and communications technology is a future growth engine for the country, and that the envisioned transfer would help the government handle IT and broadcasting issues more efficiently.

But the opposition party has strongly opposed the idea, claiming it is an attempt to bring the broadcasting industry under government control. Park has flatly denied the claim. (Yonhap News)