Lee delays press conference 30 minutes, holds close-quarters Q&A with reporters

President Lee Jae Myung's seventh press conference since taking office, held Friday, broke from the format of its predecessors in several notable ways. Rather than marking a specific occasion or milestone, the session focused entirely on current issues — and it got off to a delayed start after Cheong Wa Dae pushed back the opening by 30 minutes, citing a desire to ensure thorough preparation.

Cheong Wa Dae announced at around 8:24 a.m. Friday that the conference, originally scheduled for 10 a.m., would begin at 10:30 a.m.

A Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters at the Chunchugwan briefing room that Lee was approaching the conference with a strong sense of responsibility. "He wanted time to make final preparations, which is why we pushed it back about 30 minutes," the official said.

The conference began at 10:30 a.m. with about 150 domestic and foreign journalists in attendance. Lee wore a navy tie with diagonal stripes running from upper right to lower left.

Some political observers noted that navy — also the symbolic color of the Democratic Party of Korea and the Rebuilding Korea Party — may have been a deliberate choice intended to project unity across the progressive camp.

In his opening remarks, Lee appeared mindful of a recent dip in his approval rating, adopting a noticeably calmer and more measured tone than at previous conferences. During the question-and-answer session that followed, Cheong Wa Dae Chief Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung moderated and called on reporters, while Lee answered questions directly.

Cheong Wa Dae arranged the seating to place the president and reporters as close together as possible, raising the sense of immediacy in the room. Unlike at previous conferences, Lee stood throughout as he fielded questions. "Because the president was standing, we were able to seat the reporters much closer to him," a Cheong Wa Dae official said.

The backdrop read "Listening more closely to the will and lives of the people — President Lee Jae Myung press conference," but the session carried no separate theme. In contrast to past conferences tied to specific milestones — such as 30 days or 100 days in office, the new year, or the first anniversary of inauguration — this one imposed no thematic restrictions.

The Q&A was divided into two broad sessions — politics and diplomacy, and policy and the economy — but the format was open, with reporters free to ask about any current issue and Lee responding directly. Devices used at some past conferences, such as pre-recorded video questions, were dropped. In their place, staff introduced a mechanism to incorporate real-time reactions from the public watching the live stream.

Between the two Q&A sessions, staff selected notable comments from live YouTube and other new-media feeds — questions or topics that had not come up in the room or that warranted further explanation — and presented them to the president.