Downbeat mood at Cheong Wa Dae

The presidential transition team has become the “it” beat among reporters these days as power shifts from outgoing President Lee Myung-bak to incoming President Park Geun-hye.

The lively, hectic atmosphere at the Korea Banking Institute (KBI), where the transition team is based, stands in stark contrast to the bleak and depressing mood in Cheong Wa Dae, located a mere 10 minutes walking distance away.

The number of reporters in a press room is one way to gauge how powerful and influential Cabinet ministries or agencies are perceived to be. The more influential an organization seemingly becomes, the more reporters are attracted to it.

There is a distinct difference in the media frenzy surrounding the transition team building and the quiet at Cheong Wa Dae. Hundreds of reporters are based in the KBI building, even though media access to the team members is extremely restricted and the press rooms there are small. They are there for regular briefings which usually take place two or three times a day.

Early in the morning each day, a swarm of reporters are spotted at the front gate of the KBI. They are waiting for quotes from transition team members who arrive there between 8 and 9 a.m. to attend committee meetings.

However, reporters are either ignored or are given the cold shoulder by the members who keep their lips zipped because they are not allowed to speak freely to reporters regarding what they have discussed or intend to during the closed-door meetings.

Despite this, journalists keep trying, because they know this is the only opportunity in their day when they can get comments. Their daily coverage hinges on anythng they can get from transition team members.

A block away, in the press room of Cheong Wa Dae, where sitting President Lee Myung-bak is based, it is quiet and rather bleak. The presidential office produces press releases almost every day, but few of them attract the attention of reporters, except controversies such as Lee’s possible plans on who will receive presidential pardons.  

A staffer, who joined the presidential office last year, said these days he feels that political power and influence is just like a daydream that quickly disappears. As sitting President Lee is leaving office soon, he said, most staffers seem to have lost their vitality and enthusiasm.

“Most people here are discouraged nowadays because they will be unemployed. Allegations of cronyism, to some degree, made it difficult for us to search for jobs. If we go for positions at state-run firms or committees, the media will allege that we got plum jobs because of our background at Cheong Wa Dae,” he said. “It will be inevitable for staff to become discouraged later in the presidency because many of them have nowhere to go after leaving here.”

Staffers of the presidential office consist of four different groups, depending on their career background.

The four are government officials who were sent to Cheong Wa Dae; former party strategists who helped Lee during the 2007 presidential election; his personal aides; and those who joined Cheong Wa Dae after succeeding in the private or civic sector. Those in the fourth group bring with them experience gained in professional environments.  

Government officials are seen as the luckiest people because they will return to their day-jobs at ministries once Lee leaves office. However, many people in the other three groups will have no workplace to go to after Feb. 24 when President Lee leaves office. After going home, these presidential staffers will realize that time flies because the five-years they served at the nation’s most powerful institution passed by so quickly. They will also realize that life is short and so is the privilege of power. <The Korea Times/Kang Hyun-kyung>