Translation result.
On Children’s Day, May 5, President Lee Jae-myung said, “I will do my best to build a society where 365 days a year feel like Children’s Day.” He noted that while we now live as responsible adults in our respective roles, we were all once children learning about the world under someone’s care—easily thrilled by small things and prone to laughing and crying over minor moments.
He wrote this in a Facebook post titled “On the 104th Children’s Day.”
He recalled that everything in the world felt unfamiliar, which made it feel all the more new and wondrous. “We believed we could become anything and do anything,” he wrote, “looking first to possibilities rather than to limits.”
Looking back, he said, children simply need a bit more time than adults; they are not lacking or immature. Each child learns and grows at their own pace and, in their own way, becomes a whole person who understands the world.
“How we view and treat children will make a significant difference,” he emphasized. “If we watch over them with warmth and give them sufficient time, they will grow into adults with broader hearts and deeper empathy.”
He pledged, “I will not regard children merely as subjects of protection or as cute beings; I will respect them as individuals with dignity and personhood. I will continue striving to be a dignified adult who preserves the dignity of children. I wholeheartedly wish for the health of our children, who are the future of the Republic of Korea.”
Meanwhile, together with First Lady Kim Hye-kyung, the president invited about 200 children and family members to the Blue House for a Children’s Day celebration.
Attendees included children with disabilities; children from child-protection facilities; children from depopulating regions and multicultural families; children the presidential couple had met during visits to welfare centers and rare-disease patient meetings; bereaved families of the Osong tragedy; and children living near the Blue House.
Reporter Jeong Jae-ho cjh86@viva100.com
Most Commented