Good morning, fellow Koreans,

We are having unusually hot summer this year. I hope my message finds you well.

Last week, we heard good news that made us all forget about the sweltering heat for a moment. Our women’s national soccer team proudly clinched third place in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup! I watched their games on TV and was fascinated by their brilliant performance. All our players were amazing, but I must say that Ms. Ji So-yeon stood out among the rest with her daring goals. She may be shorter than other players in terms of height, but she managed to score eight goals and seized the global spotlight in an instant.

Her mother said in an interview that her heart still breaks when she looks back on the days she could not afford to buy her daughter a new pair of football shoes. Her daughter, however, showed deep affection for her mother and talked about her ambition is to become a world player and buy her mother a new home.

I was deeply moved by Ms Ji’s diligence. While practicing football, she had set aside time to study English so that she could advance onto the world stage one day. Her positive attitude and never failing hope must have been the source of strength that made her what she is today.

In the Vancouver Winter Olympics, our young athletes reaped remarkable records that no one ever expected. Among them was Kim Yu-na who incessantly took on challenges to become the world’s top figure skater and finally achieved the goal. The scars and blisters on her feet tell the stories of her hard laborious training that made her scintillating performance possible today. She once said that in order to achieve excellence, one has to endure to the end; the very time that you want to give up is the time you must keep going. Her words resonate in my heart.

Now you notice that these inspiring young men and women have one thing in common. They have strong determination to never give up, courage that doesn’t fear failure and a passionate spirit that continues to take up challenges over and over again.

There must be many young people out there who feel like they are walking on a dark street at night. I, too, felt the same when I was young. Even though I graduated from college, my career perspective was bleak because of my previous involvement in student activism. After many twists and turns, I was able to get a job with a small construction company. Beginning from the bottom rung, I had a chance to experience a wide range of work at the company. I threw myself completely into making the small company grow into one of the world’s leading businesses.

Many years have passed since then, but there are still a lot of young students today who struggle to keep their drowsy eyes open as they work through the night to pay their college tuition. Still many of these young people have difficulty getting jobs no matter how hard they try.

Lately, a 19-year-old woman, Ms Park, who had to make a living on her own with a part-time job, killed herself. Her death caused great sadness throughout the nation. Her last text message was about her unbearable hopelessness mounted each time with rent arrears and other debts. As President, it breaks my heart to see our youngsters losing hope for better tomorrow.

The economy is bouncing back swiftly and successfully. Notwithstanding, many young Koreans are still facing difficulties in landing a job.

The bulletin board of Cheong Wa Dae website is crowded with postings by young people; some complaining about the difficulties in finding a job and some making constructive suggestions as to how to solve the problem. One suggested the creation of a new program to encourage and inspire those who have given up looking for a job. Another suggested that professional technical training be drastically strengthened and the number of Meister high schools be greatly increased. In a more urgent and frank complaint, a young man expressed his wish to land a job as soon as possible so that he could get married.

Many other advanced nations are also grappling with the issue of youth unemployment. The circumstances in Korea are somewhat better than other nations. Still, the Government is placing top policy priority on the creation of job opportunities for young people.

My keen attention to SMEs has something to do with youth employment in the end. That is because the number of decent jobs will increase when we have more SMEs that are highly competitive on the global scene.

I hope many young people in the nation will choose to work at promising SMEs. If you channel all your energy and efforts into making your firms best in the world, you will be rewarded with an extraordinary feeling of achievement, as if you had started your own business and accomplished a spectacular success on your own.

For its part, the Government will make a level playing field in the market and, in that way, help SMEs grow further.

My fellow Koreans,

There are many young people around us who are turning mere possibility into reality by blazing new trails. Last June, I visited the Haja Center, a vocational experience center, in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, and watched the storytellers’ performance based on children’s book.

Shin Ji-Ye (storyteller from Yiyagiggun. Ltd.): “I graduated from an alternative school at the Haja Center. I’m 20, which means that I should be in college. But I wanted to do something different… activities that could contribute to society (and chose to become a storyteller). I’m doing my best here and will continue to do so in the future. With my passion for books, I want to build my future with these amazing children, students and friends.”

I greatly enjoyed an interesting performance using recycled materials by Noridan, a youth performance troupe pursuing social vitality and a sustainable lifestyle. During teatime, I exchanged many ideas with them. It was truly impressive to see these young people, who are committed to using their imaginations to create social enterprises. These enterprises actually yield profits, create jobs and contribute to society. It is a good idea for ambitious young people to participate in developing more and more social enterprises.

Last month, I visited Korea National College of Agriculture and Fisheries in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do. There I met another groups of young people who were carving promising future on their own. Firmly believing that their hopes and futures lie in agriculture and fisheries, they all had ambitious goals and were burning with a sense of pride and passion.

A first-year told me that she intends to study flower farming with a view to further developing the nation’s cyber transactions and exports. Her aspirations were impressive.

Im Bhit-Na(First Year at Korea National College of Agriculture and Fisheries) My father owes a gerbera breeding business. We have two girls at home and no sons. I have chosen this path so that I can inherit my father’s business. I’m also confident that I can do better than my father. When we go to the market, we only find gerberas with foreign origin. My dream is to develop native Korean gerberas and export them, so that our national brand and status could be further improved.”  

Some students were keen about introducing up-to-date management techniques to agriculture. Their dreams were to tackle issues concerning food processing and food logistics channel.

Even in the midst of bad economy and difficult personal circumstances, there is much room for people who are armed with a sense of passion and a goal to take on new challenges.

It is not desirable to insist on big and fancy plans from the beginning. Rather, it is better to start with a concrete plan that can be pursued with passion. One’s long-term vision should be big and grand, yet it is small, concrete steps that carry you far. It is also desirable to turn your sight to the far horizon and seek opportunities in the international arena.

The Government is making plans to enable young workers to make inroads and succeed in overseas markets. In addition, the state-invested companies are studying plans to hire as many talented young people as possible.

Our young generation is characterized by a degree of freedom and open-mindedness unparalleled in our history. Unlike their parents and grandparents, they have global perspective and manners. Their sensitivity to digital culture is highly sophisticated as well.

The patriot, Ahn Chang-ho, whom I admire the most, once said, “It is important to equip oneself with the capability to seize an opportunity rather than waiting for it to come to you.”

Young men and women of Korea,

Don’t ever lose hope for tomorrow just because today’s situation is difficult. As long as you look for challenges, the nation has hope.

The Government and I will continue to strive to make more and more opportunities for you, so that you can dream more and hope bigger. Despite the sweltering heat, I sincerely hope that all the hard working young people find hope and build a vision for a better tomorrow.

Thank you very much.