Former Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum has emerged as the leading candidate to head the presidential National Unity Committee. The move is seen as an effort to strengthen the administration's unity agenda by placing a senior politician with a centrist, consensus-building image at the forefront, at a time when the president's approval rating is falling and internal friction within the ruling bloc has surfaced.
The Presidential Office has entered final deliberations with Kim as the leading candidate to succeed former chairman Lee Suk-yeon, according to political sources on the 15th. Lee stepped down on the 9th after completing a one-year term. In a phone interview with Seoul Economic Daily, Kim said he had indeed received an offer, adding that if he takes the post he will end up offering blunt criticism of the government, and that the government would likely make its decision after weighing that burden and other circumstances.
Although Kim comes from the Democratic Party, he has relatively few factional ties within the party and is regarded as one of the ruling bloc's leading centrist, consensus-building politicians. His political career carries a particularly clear symbolism of overcoming regionalism. After serving three terms as a lawmaker in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province, he gave up his established political base and moved his political footing in 2011 to Daegu, then all but barren ground for the Democratic Party. He lost the 2012 general election and the 2014 Daegu mayoral race in succession, but won in Daegu's Suseong-A district in the 2016 general election, earning credit for breaking down the wall of regionalism in the city.
After serving as interior minister and prime minister under the Moon Jae-in administration, Kim ran again as the Democratic Party candidate for Daegu mayor in the June 3 local elections this year. He lost narrowly once more, but the very fact that he mounted another Democratic Party challenge in Daegu, a core conservative stronghold, was seen as symbolizing a unity that transcends region and political camp.
Within the Presidential Office, there also appears to have been a judgment that appointing a figure from the rival camp is not the only answer. That marks a different strategy from the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's choice of former Democratic Party leader Kim Han-gill as the first National Unity Committee chairman, and the Lee Jae-myung administration's selection of Lee, a conservative-leaning figure who served as minister of government legislation under the Lee Myung-bak administration. The reading is that Kim's symbolism of unity may stand out more, given that he has taken political risks to overcome the wall of regionalism himself.
President Lee's approval rating recently falling into the 30% range, along with wavering support not only among moderates but also among traditional backers over issues such as prosecution reform and personnel appointments, also appears to be part of the backdrop to Kim's rise as a candidate. Beyond his political experience and administrative capability, there are expectations that he can draw on his symbolic role as a bridge between the Yeongnam and Honam regions and between progressives and conservatives to help resolve internal conflict within the ruling bloc while also embracing moderate voters.
