President Lee Jae-myung warned government officials on Friday against making false reports to avoid difficult situations, speaking ahead of ministry briefings.
"Don't try to slip in false reports to escape from difficult circumstances," Lee said at a briefing session with officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency at the Sejong Convention Center.
"If you pretend to know something when you don't, it distorts judgment," Lee said. "I'm not someone who checks whether people have memorized figures or not. If you don't know, just say you don't know."
The president added that working-level officials could provide answers when needed. "There should be no distorted reporting during briefings," he emphasized.
Lee pointed out that distortion involves intent. "The worst practice is hiding important information in the main report while leaving it out of the summary reports that senior officials typically review," he said.
"There are two types of false reporting," Lee explained. "One is deliberate deception, which disqualifies someone from being a public servant. The other is false reporting done to slip out of difficult situations."
"This happens a lot in the National Assembly, but let's at least not do this among ourselves," he added.
"Reports must be objective and transparent," Lee said. "If you've done something so problematic that you can't report it properly, you must take responsibility."
The president stressed that officials who feel compelled to push through false reports should pursue private business instead. "We are people doing work on behalf of the public, so we must be loyal to the people," he said.
