President Lee Jae Myung (L) and first lady Kim Hea Kyung pose after Lee receives a letter of appointment from selected individuals during a ceremony held at Gwanghwamun Square in downtown Seoul on Aug. 15, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 15 (Korea Bizwire) – President Lee Jae Myung on Friday received letters of appointment from 80 selected individuals in a symbolic ceremony marking his election victory, pledging to carry out their mandates for a better country.
The special event, dubbed the “People’s Mandate Ceremony,” was held on the 80th anniversary of Liberation Day, as Lee took office without a formal inauguration ceremony after winning the June 3 presidential election triggered by the ouster of former President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid in December.
“On this 80th Liberation Day — a day when we have reclaimed the light of sovereignty once taken from us — I stand here with boundless pride and an equally deep sense of responsibility, receiving the people’s mandate filled with the people’s earnest wishes,” Lee said during the ceremony held at Gwanghwamun Square in downtown Seoul.
“Each dream shines in its own way toward the future, but our shared goal is unmistakable: to build a better nation and to open an era where the people live in happiness, filled with hope and possibility,” he said.
Korean musicians perform during the “People’s Mandate Ceremony” held at Gwanghwamun Square in downtown Seoul on Aug. 15, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Lee credited South Korea’s rise to the world’s 10th-largest economy to the contributions of people who sacrificed themselves to defend the nation’s independence and security, as well as those who worked at home and abroad to lay the foundations for modernization.
During the ceremony, 80 selected individuals — including those who achieved global success in democracy, economic growth, science and technology, culture, and sports over the 80 years since liberation, as well as ordinary citizens — delivered letters of appointment outlining their mandates for Lee’s five-year presidency.
Among them were descendants of independence fighters born on Aug. 15, 1948; a person born aboard a ship fleeing the North Korean port of Hungnam months after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950; and a couple who naturally conceived and gave birth to quintuplets for the first time in Korea.
Notable participants included trauma surgeon Lee Cook-jong, Go master Lee Se-dol and football coach Park Hang-seo, a member of South Korea’s 2002 World Cup coaching staff.
Former presidents were invited to the event, with the exception of Yoon, who remains in custody over his failed martial law bid. Former conservative leaders Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak did not attend, citing health reasons.
(Yonhap)
