Below is the full text of President Yoon's "Letter to the People."
Dear citizens, did you have many good dreams for the New Year? I hope that the Year of the Ox brings you many joyful events. Since my impeachment on December 14th last year, I have had a lot of time to think alone. Ironically, it was only after my impeachment that I realized I am the president. With 26 years of public service, 8 months of presidential campaign, election victory, transition work, and inauguration, I have been working tirelessly from dawn to late at night, not realizing that I am the president.
-- He is confessing that he has not done anything properly from the beginning. Not only as president but also as prosecutor general and during his time in the prosecution, he has not done anything properly. If you drink almost every day, the time spent working in a daze will pass by.
Public personnel appointments, election pledges and national tasks, current issues and crisis management, diplomacy, security, economy, and social issues have all required intense contemplation, discussion, and difficult decisions. Since my school days, I have believed that ability is effort, so I have worked tirelessly and intensely. Many advised me to take breaks and maintain authority as a president, but the domestic and international situations were not easy after my inauguration. Global security and supply chain crises, high inflation, high interest rates, and high exchange rates brought about an external economic crisis. The explosive increase in national debt due to the populist policies of the previous government, the household loan problem due to the failure of real estate policies, and the worsening management of small business owners and SMEs due to the minimum wage increase from the income-led growth policy added difficulties in overcoming the economic crisis.
-- There are numerous testimonies that there was not a single case of discussion. Moreover, the economic community expressed difficulties due to the lack of policies of this administration. National debt has increased almost beyond the COVID-19 era under the current government.
He still does not grasp the current situation.
However, thanks to the trust and support of the people despite difficult conditions, we were able to gradually resolve current issues and crises. By abolishing punitive taxation policies and implementing real estate policies based on market principles, we managed housing prices stably. By connecting global central state diplomacy and economy, we developed overseas markets and achieved the highest export performance last year, almost catching up with Japan, which has 2.5 times our population. Last year, our per capita GDP surpassed Japan's. The nuclear-based upgrade of the Korea-U.S. alliance, the strengthening of the comprehensive strategic alliance, and the normalization of Korea-Japan relations through trilateral cooperation between Korea, the U.S., and Japan have solidly supported the external credibility of our economy.
-- In 2022, the economy was ruined with more than a 10% drop in exports compared to 2021, and it has only just surpassed 2021. It was not based on market principles but rather government-controlled finance, as anyone can see from the reports. He does not even understand the meaning of being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and there has never been a time when Korea-Japan relations were not normal. It is embarrassing to call it diplomacy when we have given so much to Japan without receiving anything in return.
These days, the past two and a half years of running around for security, economy, and social reform pass by like a panorama. I regret not being wiser and listening more. Looking back on the presidential campaign and the past two and a half years since my inauguration, I think of each and every citizen who trusted and supported me, those who start their day early despite their tired bodies, students who go out with their backpacks on cold mornings to prepare for the future, and those who suffer with painful and uncomfortable bodies in difficult conditions. I feel sorry that I could not visit and help them.
-- Both security and the economy have been ruined, and the medical sector has been in a mess for over two years due to unreasonable pushes for medical reform. I have never seen him show any regret. He should at least put some saliva on his lips...
I do not know what kind of letter he is writing without ever properly comforting the bereaved families of the Itaewon disaster.