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| ▲ President Yoon Suk Yeol (2nd from L) purchases water parsley at Chilseong Market in the southeastern city of Daegu on Nov. 7, 2023. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers congratulatory remarks at a national convention of the Council for the Better Tomorrow Movement in the southeastern city of Daegu on Nov. 7, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap) |
Yoon-Daegu visit
Yoon visits conservative stronghold of Daegu
By Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol visited the conservative stronghold of Daegu on Tuesday to attend a convention of a civic group promoting national cohesion and meet with locals at a traditional market.
Yoon traveled to the city, 237 kilometers southeast of Seoul, to attend the national convention of the Council for the Better Tomorrow Movement, which was established in 1989 with the aim of fostering people's democratic awareness and promoting national harmony.
The group is known to have close ties to the government and claims some 800,000 members nationwide.
"The Better Tomorrow Movement is a movement to raise the quality of life and create a just society by banishing falsehood and corruption through a national consciousness reform movement," Yoon said at the Exco convention center in front of some 8,000 attendees.
"Let us create an honest and healthy society by banishing corruption, and maintaining law and order. Let us create a warm society that extends its hand to neighbors in need," he said.
Yoon praised the movement for what he said are its efforts to fight disinformation, saying he believes the campaign will "firmly protect our human rights and democratic politics."
He also said the government actively supports and roots for the movement's guiding principles of truth, order and harmony.
This was Yoon's first visit to Daegu since April, when he attended the 100-year anniversary ceremony of Seomun Market, one of the country's largest traditional markets, and threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game.
The latest visit came months before next April's parliamentary elections, which could determine the fate of the remainder of Yoon's term amid challenges caused in part by an opposition-controlled National Assembly.
Yoon visited Chilseong traditional market after the convention in line with his recent push to delve deeper into people's everyday lives and listen to their needs.
He had lunch with local merchants and lawmakers, and reaffirmed his commitment to prioritizing small business owners and self-employed people in crafting policies.
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