A recent poll showed the president's approval rating on state affairs has fallen to the 30% range, the lowest since he took office. It could be written off as the "second-year jinx" that has hit past administrations, but it is a poor report card for a government that has pledged "competent administration that gets things done." The recent reshuffle of six ministries was said to emphasize renewal centered on ability and expertise, but it is questionable whether it can clear up the policy confusion that has piled up and deliver change in daily life that people can feel.
The nomination of Rep. Yong Hye-in of the Basic Income Party as minister of gender equality and family has drawn considerable controversy. Some credit her with expertise built through her legislative work, but she has twice won office solely as a proportional representative through a satellite party that blocked minor parties from entering the National Assembly and undermined the purpose of the quasi-mixed-member proportional system. In particular, the idea of holding the ministerial post and her Assembly seat at the same time cannot escape criticism that it reflects a vested-interest mindset intent on preserving a "family party." If protecting the party comes first, she should have declined the offer to join the cabinet in the first place. Born in 1990, she carries symbolic weight as a representative of the young, but the dominant assessment is that the appointment damages the value of fairness that young people take most seriously.
The belated resignation of Kim Yong-beom, former head of the presidential policy office, has dulled the freshness of the reshuffle. Kim is seen as the official chiefly responsible for a policy that turned the domestic stock market into a gambling arena through the hasty introduction of single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds, leaving deep wounds among young investors as the wealth gap widened. He resigned only after the announcement of the reshuffle, pushed by public opinion. Replacing only some ministers while leaving in place the official chiefly responsible for the policy failure and the leadership of the financial authorities invited criticism that this was an irresponsible personnel move aimed at changing the subject. Kim Seung-won, the nominee for justice minister, led legislation related to President Lee Jae-myung's trials, and there is a risk he will drive the regular Assembly session that has just begun into the conflict and confusion of a "withdrawal of indictment" standoff.
There is concern that the coming confirmation hearings will become a black hole for the autumn regular session. As has been seen countless times in the past, a reshuffle meant to renew state affairs can become a liability, engulfed in controversy during confirmation hearings and draining policy momentum. One can hope that the leaders' summit proposed by President Lee opens the way to cooperation, so that not only the confirmation hearings proceed normally but also the parliamentary audit and budget review of the regular session move forward without disruption.
Successful governance depends on producing results in daily life that the public can feel and on minimizing policy confusion. The tangle continues: the rash introduction of single-stock leveraged ETFs followed by belated regulation, housing measures without supply measures and tax revisions detached from reality, lending rules that cut off the housing ladder for young adults, the dispute over abolishing supplementary investigative authority that pushed victim protection aside, and falling trust after a series of inadequate police responses. The government must face the gravity of the current situation squarely and concentrate its capacity on the three core policy targets of housing, the stock market and young adults. If the public can feel policy results that meet its expectations, a rebound in the president's approval rating will be only a matter of time.
