President Lee carries out mid-scale reshuffle spanning pro-government bloc and youth
Experts say reshuffle should refocus on Lee administration's founding principles
Yong Hye-in would become youngest minister in South Korean history if confirmed
Approval rating dips below 40% for first time; analysts see limited short-term rebound
![President Lee Jae Myung announced a second cabinet reshuffle on Sunday. Top row, from left: Lee Hyeong-il, first vice minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, nominated as deputy prime minister and finance minister; Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Seung-won, nominated as justice minister; Kang Sin-cheol, former deputy commander of the Combined Forces Command, nominated as defense minister. Bottom row, from left: Basic Income Party lawmaker Yong Hye-in, nominated as minister of gender equality and family; Hong Ji-seon, second vice minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, nominated as land minister; Democratic Party lawmaker Lee So-young, nominated as minister of SMEs and startups. [Cheong Wa Dae, Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/08/31/news-p.v1.20260831.88d67ff03e7a4700a7acb9957ed3cef5_P1.jpg)
President Lee Jae Myung announced a broader-than-expected cabinet reshuffle spanning six ministries on Sunday, signaling a shift in how his administration intends to govern. Experts described the move as an effort to reverse a slide in his approval ratings and consolidate support across the wider pro-government bloc, while stressing that rapid policy change is essential for the reshuffle to succeed.
The reshuffle went well beyond what had been anticipated. Analysts had expected only minor changes to fill vacancies at the Ministry of Justice, where Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Seung-won was nominated, and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, where Democratic Party lawmaker Lee So-young was tapped. Instead, Lee also named Lee Hyeong-il, the ministry's first vice minister, as deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance; Kang Sin-cheol, a former deputy commander of the Combined Forces Command, as defense minister; Hong Ji-seon, the second vice minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, as land minister; and Basic Income Party lawmaker Yong Hye-in as minister of gender equality and family. The appointments are seen as marking a significant shift in the administration's second year in office.
One of the most striking features of the reshuffle is the nominees' ages. The six candidates average 50.5 years old. Lee Hyeong-il, nominated as deputy prime minister and finance minister, was born in 1971, while Yong, nominated to lead the gender equality and family ministry, was born in 1990.
Should Yong be confirmed, she would become the youngest cabinet minister in South Korean history since democratization. The previous record was held by Kim Hee-jung, a People Power Party lawmaker appointed as minister of gender equality and family under President Park Geun-hye in 2014 at age 43. Analysts say the appointments reflect a deliberate effort to bring younger voices into government and broaden the administration's appeal among younger generations.
Also notable is the appointment of Lee Hae-min, a Rebuilding Korea Party lawmaker, as senior presidential secretary for AI and future planning at Cheong Wa Dae. Together with Yong's nomination, the move is seen as a bid to rally the broader pro-government camp and expand the administration's political base at the same time.
Experts identified swift policy reform as the key to making the reshuffle a success. Park Chang-hwan, a special professor at Jangan University, said the reshuffle is fundamentally about reversing the decline in approval ratings. "What matters is a preemptive and aggressive policy response that people can feel quickly — on real estate taxation, leveraged ETFs, the abolition of supplementary investigative powers, and military reform," he said.
Political commentator Park Sang-byeong said the reshuffle signals a departure from the approach that had drawn criticism for bringing in centrist and opposition-aligned figures. "This is a reshuffle aimed at moving away from that and returning to the founding principles of the Lee Jae Myung administration," he said. "It means starting a second phase of the Lee government by building a new coalition, strengthening its progressive identity, and managing state affairs in a way that encompasses the broader pro-government bloc."
Some analysts were skeptical that the reshuffle would produce a lasting recovery in the president's approval ratings. Shin Yul, a professor at Myongji University, said the reshuffle might produce a brief uptick but was unlikely to sustain momentum on its own. "The possibility that a personnel change will translate into genuine policy reform is not large for the time being," he said.
A poll released Monday underscored the challenge facing the administration. A Realmeter survey conducted for Energy Economy News from Monday through Friday last week among 2,509 adults aged 18 and older nationwide found that 38.9 percent of respondents gave a positive assessment of Lee's job performance — down 1.3 percentage points from the previous week and the first time the figure has fallen below 40 percent since he took office.
Realmeter attributed the continued decline to a combination of factors: worsening public sentiment over real estate, a constitutional controversy surrounding Lee's refusal to approve a Supreme Court justice nominee, growing distrust of police following a missing-persons case in Jeju, and internal tensions within the ruling camp. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.0 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level, with a response rate of 3.9 percent. Further details are available on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.
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