Moon was sworn into office immediately after official votes were counted on 10 May 2017, replacing Acting President and Prime Minister
Hwang Kyo-ahn. There was no transition period between the election and inauguration, unlike other presidential elections due to the nature of an election following a
presidential impeachment and removal of his predecessor,
Park Geun-hye. He served out the typical single five-year term with his presidential term concluding in 2022. President Moon and his government has been widely described as
left-wing or
liberal by media. On 15 August 2019, coinciding with
Liberation Day, large-scale flag rallies occurred in central Seoul, including
Seoul Station, City Hall Plaza,
Daehanmun, and the outer ring of Gwanghwamun Plaza, calling to impeach Moon Jae-in. Protests were also held on 3 October,
the national foundation day.
Domestic policy Fiscal policy stance According to the 2017-2021 National Fiscal Management Plan, the Moon Jae-in administration projected that the South Korean economy would achieve improved growth driven by exports and investment. However, it pointed out that the income polarization problem intensified while South Korea achieved growth in the past. To solve the income inequality, it was urgent to switch to a new economic paradigm. Moon Jae In administration emphasized the active role of government finance to achieve the goal of a “people-centered, sustainable growth economy”. This led to an expansionary fiscal policy stance. This was implemented as 'income-led growth', which was the core economic policy of the Moon Jae In administration. The Moon administration diagnosed that the proportion of corporate income in the national economy has increased due to the corporate-centered economic policy, while the proportion of household income has decreased significantly. As a result, the imbalance, such as the income gap between companies and households, the corporate income gap between large and small companies, and the wage income gap between workers, has deepened. The income-led growth policy was aimed at increasing the income of households to achieve economic growth. The policy consisted of three pillars: increasing household income, expanding social safety nets and welfare, and investing in people. First, it planned to raise the minimum wage and expand ‘earned income tax credit’ to improve the income of low-wage workers. Policies to support self-employed small business owners were also initiated by reducing card fees and rent. Second, welfare expansion such as basic pension for the elderly, pension for the disabled, children's allowance, and basic living security was initiated. Third, the government sought to strengthen human capacity by reducing blind spots in employment insurance and strengthening unemployment benefit coverage. According to the Performance and Tasks of Income-led growth report, the proportion of low-wage workers has decreased since 2018, largely due to minimum wage increases. Wage disparities in the labor market based on gender, employment type, and company size have also shown improvement. Notably, the ‘labor income share’ increased by 5.5%, representing the most significant increase compared to previous administrations. Also income distribution indicators improved due to the improvement of the basic living security system, the increase in the basic pension, and the establishment of child allowances. In addition, the number of employment insurance policyholders continued to increase, helping to reduce blind spots. The expansionary fiscal stance was also reflected in the 'Korean-style fiscal rules' announced in 2020. The purpose is to secure fiscal sustainability, but government spending is set to be flexibly expanded in times of crisis rather than applying strict fiscal rules. In situations where the role of finance is required, the direction of implementation was specified to actively respond to changes in economic and financial conditions with bold financial support from the government. An exception was included for national disasters or economic crises necessitating significant fiscal expenditure, with management indicators to be gradually reapplied over four years once the exceptional circumstances subside. The formula for calculating the fiscal management limit also reflects a relatively flexible fiscal stance. Rather than a simple and strict limit regulation, management indicators were designed through a calculation formula that considers both ‘national debt’ and the ‘Consolidated Fiscal Balance’. For example, if ‘National Debt as a Percentage of GDP’ exceeds the initial target threshold of 60%, the framework permits adjustments, such as reducing the ‘consolidated fiscal balance’ of the initial target threshold of -3%, to ensure compliance. Furthermore, the legal basis was planned to be included in the 'enforcement decree', which is less legally binding than the law.
Chaebol reform South Korea's economic growth has been attributed in large part to
Chaebols, or family-owned
conglomerates. Prominent examples of conglomerates include
Samsung and
Hyundai, concentrated power (
collusion), connections with the government including most recently the 2016
Choi Soon-sil scandal which ultimately led to the special election Moon won. Moon subsequently appointed "chaebol sniper"
Kim Sang-jo, a well-known shareholder activist, to the role of fair-trade commissioner aimed at reforming
chaebols.
Tech policy As President, Moon signed into law an amendment to the Telecommunications Business Act that has been referred to as the "Anti-Google Law". The legislation prohibits
Apple and
Google, which operate the
App Store and
Google Play Store, respectively, from requiring app developers on these platforms to use their payment systems to sell their products. As a result, app developers will be able to avoid paying commission to Apple or Google by directing customers to pay through alternate platforms.
Health care policy Moon's health care policy included the benefit coverage expansion in National Health Insurance.
Prosecution reform Prosecution reform was implemented to rearrange the prosecution and its investigation right and to rebuild the corrupt prosecution. So far, the prosecution has had both investigation rights, and accusation rights and it leads to vastly over-concentrated power. So, the main purpose of coordinating the prosecution and police investigation rights is to weaken the accusation right of the prosecution. It was started under the Moon Jae-in administration by former Ministers of Justice such as Cho Guk, Choo Mi-ae, and Park Beom-gye. Yoon Suk Yeol, who was the president, also participated as former Prosecutor General. As part of the process, the Corruption Investigation Office for high-ranking officials was established, and the backlash from the prosecution was very strong. Against this 'power rearrange' process, some executives of prosecution withdrew their seats as a sign of resistance. In addition, through coordinating the prosecution and police investigation rights, the ruling party tried to shift the power of the prosecution to others. Like the time the Corruption Investigation Office For High-ranking Officials was established, high-ranking officials of the prosecution again resigned as a sign of resistance against coordinating the prosecution and police investigation rights. As a result, the power of the prosecution weakened compared to the past, by the prosecution reform during the Moon Jae-in administration. Still there are some limitations. As the opposition party interrupted the related legislation process, it took more time than usual and some of the core part of the prosecution reform was revised.
Capital punishment Moon opposed efforts to re-implement capital punishment.
Investigation of labor abuses Moon approved of a bill passed in April 2020 to investigate labor abuses in the work camp known as
Brothers Home, which he investigated as a lawyer in 1987.
Minimum wage Moon's government launched a series of minimum wage hikes. One of these was in 2018, which raised the minimum wage by 16.4% from the previous year to 7,530 won (US$6.65) an hour. In a 2018 report, the NGO Oxfam cited South Korea as one of the few countries in Asia to have made efforts to reduce inequality that year.
Maximum hour work week The maximum hour work week was reduced from 68 to 52. Although the Park government responded to subsequent backlash by switching from its official position of requiring the textbooks to be used, to allowing schools the choice to use them, Moon's action scrapped the program altogether. Schools continued using privately published, government-approved textbooks written under educational guidelines instead.
Animal rights and dog meat During his campaign, Moon promised to adopt a dog from an animal sanctuary; this was considered relevant to South Korean politics, as the country allows for
consumption of dog meat. He adopted Tory, a four-year-old black
mongrel saved from a dog meat farm, from an animal rights group. The move was considered as sending "a strong message against the dog meat trade".
Energy at the
Eastern Economic Forum in
Vladivostok, Russia, September 6, 2017 Moon's administration focused on increasing South Korea's consumption of natural gas, away from nuclear and coal as sources of energy. These plans include delaying
construction on nuclear reactors as well as re-opening dialogue around a
natural gas pipeline that would come from Russia and pass through North Korea. At the event on June 19, 2017, marking the end of operations at South Korea's oldest nuclear reactor,
Kori Unit 1, Moon outlined his plan for the future of energy in Korea, saying "we will abandon the development policy centered on nuclear power plants and exit the era of nuclear energy." This would be implemented by canceling plans for new nuclear power plants and not renewing licenses for operating plants. In addition, he shut down eight coal-fired power plants upon assuming office in May 2017, and pledged to shut down the remaining ten coal plants by the end of his term. In the long term, he envisioned renewable sources would eventually be able to meet Korea's demand, but in the interim, proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a stopgap measure while coal and nuclear were taken offline in the coming decades.
COVID-19 pandemic Moon's response to the
COVID-19 pandemic has been praised both domestically and internationally. However, more than 1.5 million South Koreans signed a
petition to
impeach Moon over what they claimed was the government's initial mishandling of the
coronavirus outbreak in South Korea. In response, more than 1.3 million South Koreans signed a second
petition in just two weeks to support Moon over what they claimed was the government's capable control of the coronavirus. An opinion poll conducted between 5–6 March 2020 by '''', a public polling company, showed that 53% of the public had a positive evaluation of Moon's handling of the
COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea. An opinion poll by Gallup Korea in the first week of March 2020 showed his approval rating rose from 44% to 67%, due to public's approval of his administration's handling of the outbreak. By January 2021, according to a Realmeter survey, his approval rating decreased to 34%, the lowest point during his presidency. According to the
Yonhap News Agency, James Kim, the Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea stated that "Korea is proactively and transparently dealing with COVID-19. The confirmed cases are surging in Korea, due to the country's well-prepared testing procedures compared to other countries."
CNBC's Matt McCarthy, a New York City doctor, praised Moon's government work on solving the coronavirus crisis, stating that "South Korea had been able to test tens of thousands of people. With the country's aggressive testing efforts, Korea's death toll from the disease is less than 1%, while the global average is 3.4%. This is thanks to the government's early preparation for the outbreak of infectious diseases." In 2020, although a spike in new coronavirus cases in South Korea prompted authorities to reimpose tighter social distancing curbs in Seoul, there were thousands of demonstrators protesting against Moon Jae-in's policies. Police said that they would probe all participants of demonstrations held in
downtown Seoul to look into whether they violated a court decision related to COVID-19 and other regulations. On October 3 the national foundation day, conservative groups held drive-thru anti-government rallies in southern Seoul, amid concerns about the spread of COVID.
LGBT rights Moon opposes
same-sex marriage. In a 2017 presidential television debate, he openly declared that he opposes
homosexuality in some forms. Speaking to
Buddhist and
Christian religious leaders in October 2019, Moon said, "A national consensus should be the priority for same-sex marriage. However, regarding the human rights of sexual minorities, they should not be socially persecuted or discriminated against." In July 2020, the proposal of South Korea's first comprehensive
anti-discrimination law, which would provide legal protection for minority communities, including the
LGBTQ community, did not receive any open support from Moon. However, in December 2020, in a special report by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, Moon emphasized the necessity of enacting the Equality Act in the country.
Human Rights Watch, in their
Word Report 2020, called on the Korean government to take note of the urgent need for protecting the rights of Korea's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. "President Moon Jae-in, who started his legal career fighting for human rights, is in several ways failing to promote them now," said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. In 2020, he and his government need to reverse course and prioritize human rights in South Korea, North Korea, and worldwide.
2020 legislative election and subsequent reforms Moon's
Democratic Party won 163 constituency seats, while their satellite
Platform party won 17 proportional representation seats, giving the alliance a total of 180 seats in the 300-seat assembly, enough to reach the
three-fifths super-majority required to fast-track assembly procedures and "do everything but revising the Constitution at the parliament." This was the largest majority for any party since
democracy was restored in 1987. The
United Future Party and their satellite
Future Korea Party won 84 constituency and 19 proportional seats respectively; their total of 103 seats (34.3%) was the worst conservative result since the
1960 legislative elections. Subsequently, with its new three-fifths majority, the Democratic Party implemented a series of reforms and were approved by the National Assembly in December 2020 including: • removal of the
National Intelligence Service (NIS)'s involvement in domestic intelligence and activities and transferring of such powers to the
National Police Agency • Revisions to the 18 May Special Act, penalizing those involved in making false factual claims regarding the 1980
Gwangju Uprising • Revisions to the Inter-Korean Relations Act, penalizing sending of flyers to North Korea via balloons launched near the demilitarized zone • Revisions to the Labor Standards Act, setting the maximum work week to 52 hours a week, including overtime while allowing a business to exceed the 52-hour limit by giving an extended paid vacation for workers. • guaranteed paid parental leave for temporary workers • expansions to the range of workers who can participate in unions and raising the maximum duration of a collective bargaining agreement from two years to three years. • re-establishment of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission. • launch of the new
Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials and stripping the opposition's right to veto appointments of a new agency head. • establishment of local policing, allowing each city and province to establish its own autonomous police force instead of a single national police force. • establishment of a new National Bureau of Investigation, quasi-independent and insulated from the National Police Agency.
Foreign policy International relations in May 2021Moon visited the United States to meet with U.S. President
Donald Trump in June 2017, discussing
U.S.-Korea trade relations as well as
North Korea's missile programs. Moon revealed in a joint news conference that President Trump accepted an invitation to visit South Korea.
North Korea and Moon shake hands inside the
Peace House.|alt= Outlining his North Korea strategy in a speech in
Berlin, Germany, on 6 July 2017, Moon characterized the process leading to unification as a long-term project, rather than laying out any detailed plans for a unified Korea. He emphasized alliance with the United States and specified the need to assure dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. At the same time, he presented the question of unification in a regional context and signaled his hopes of working in cooperation with the international community. He supported sanctions against North Korea, while leaving open the possibility of their being rescinded, and indicated that it is crucial to establish a peace treaty with North Korea to end the Korean War officially in exchange for denuclearization. Moon opposed the full deployment of
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems during his presidential campaign and called for more peace talks engaging with North Korea. As of late July, following North Korea's latest missile launch and increasingly aggressive actions, Moon asked the U.S. permission to build up its domestic defense systems and temporarily set up a full THAAD system. Moon met with
Kim Jong Un,
Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, on 27 April 2018. The inter-Korean rapprochement arouses broad enthusiasm among the South Korean population: Moon Jae-in's popularity reached 68% in April 2018. Kim and Moon met again on 26 May. The second meeting was also at the DMZ, this time on the North Korean side of the
Panmunjom village. The meeting was largely centered around the cancelled summit with Donald Trump. In September 2018, Moon Jae-in visited
Pyongyang in the
September 2018 inter-Korean summit. He and 150 delegates—including prominent figures in business, culture, and religion—flew to the Sunan Airport in Pyongyang and met with Kim Jong Un. The two Korean leaders announced an agreement to decrease hostilities on the DMZ, further joint-economic projects, and open North Korean weapons facilities to international experts. The leaders also gave a speech to 150,000 North Korean citizens in the
Rungrado 1st of May Stadium with themes of unification, lasting peace, and friendship. Moon also climbed
Mount Paektu with Kim, which had been a "long unfulfilled dream" for him. Moon was called "Kim Jong Un's Top Spokesman" by
Bloomberg News. In October 2018, Moon visited Europe and lobbied for reconciliation with North Korea during the tour. In March 2019,
U.N. panel accused South Korea of violating sanctions by not notifying the Security Council about its deliveries of petroleum products for use at inter-Korean joint liaison office. Also in the Annex of the ''Updated Guidance on Addressing North Korea's Illicit Shipping Practices'', issued from
United States Department of the Treasury, a ship of South Korea was listed as that believed to have engaged in ship-to-ship transfers with North Korean tankers. In January 2020, Moon was still serious about inter-Korean cooperation. However, on June 16, North Korea blew up an inter-Korean joint liaison office. On 23 September, as video speech at 75th Session of
United Nations General Assembly, Moon mentioned about his hope that "the UN and the international community provide support so that we can advance into an era of reconciliation and prosperity through the end-of-war declaration" and "the end-of-war declaration will open the door to complete demilitarization and permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula."
Unemployment In January 2019, South Korea's unemployment rate hit 4.5%, the highest number observed for the month of January since 2010, while the
youth unemployment rate, which tracks Koreans aged 25–34 who have not secured jobs, reached its highest in South Korea in 19 years. According to Statistics Korea, 338,000 young Koreans were unemployed in July 2018. The number is the highest since youth unemployment marked 434,000 in 1999, as the nation was still recovering from the
1997 Asian financial crisis. Some experts said the current Moon Jae-in government's purportedly pro-labor policies, including the raise in
minimum wage, which led
The Wall Street Journal to call President Moon Jae-In's economic program "Asia's most radical left-wing", and reduction of maximum weekly work hours from 68 to 52, may be contributors to the increasing number of Koreans unable to find jobs. In November 2018, the
Financial Times reported that President Moon Jae-In replaced
Kim Dong-yeon, finance minister, by
Hong Nam-ki, an economic policy official currently serving in the prime minister's office, and Jang Ha-sung, presidential chief of staff for policy. The reshuffle sets the stage for new economic ideas "in a nation that is struggling to transition away from its once-successful
manufacturing model". As of December 2021, the unemployment rate was down to 3.7%, the lowest since 2017 and in line with the unemployment rate of the previous two decades. ==Post-presidency (2022–present)==