President Lee Jae-myung marked the 104th Children’s Day on May 5 by pledging to do more to build a society where “every day, 365 days a year, can feel like Children’s Day,” not just a single holiday.
Lee made the remarks in a Facebook post titled “Marking the 104th Children’s Day.”
“Though we now live in our own places as adults, we were all once children learning about the world under someone’s care,” he wrote, recalling how children can be excited by small things and cry and laugh over everyday moments.
He said childhood is a time when everything feels unfamiliar yet new, and when people believe they can become anything and focus on possibilities before limits.
Looking back, Lee wrote, children are not lacking or immature, but people who simply need more time than adults. “They learn and grow at their own pace and come to understand the world in their own way,” he said.
Lee said much depends on how adults view and treat children, adding that if adults watch with warmth and wait long enough, children will grow into adults with broader hearts and deeper consideration for others.
“I, too, pledge not to see children only as those to be protected or as simply cute, but to respect them as individuals with dignity and character,” he wrote. “I will keep working to be a dignified adult who protects children’s dignity.”
He closed by saying he sincerely hopes South Korea’s children, “the future of the Republic of Korea,” will always be healthy.
Lee made the remarks in a Facebook post titled “Marking the 104th Children’s Day.”
“Though we now live in our own places as adults, we were all once children learning about the world under someone’s care,” he wrote, recalling how children can be excited by small things and cry and laugh over everyday moments.
He said childhood is a time when everything feels unfamiliar yet new, and when people believe they can become anything and focus on possibilities before limits.
Looking back, Lee wrote, children are not lacking or immature, but people who simply need more time than adults. “They learn and grow at their own pace and come to understand the world in their own way,” he said.
Lee said much depends on how adults view and treat children, adding that if adults watch with warmth and wait long enough, children will grow into adults with broader hearts and deeper consideration for others.
“I, too, pledge not to see children only as those to be protected or as simply cute, but to respect them as individuals with dignity and character,” he wrote. “I will keep working to be a dignified adult who protects children’s dignity.”
He closed by saying he sincerely hopes South Korea’s children, “the future of the Republic of Korea,” will always be healthy.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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