Kang Hoon-sik follows Kim Yong-beom in resigning amid failed nominations, falling approval ratings
Lee approves minister appointments from New York as palace reviews personnel vetting system
With former Cheong Wa Dae Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom already gone, Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik has now also submitted his resignation, fueling talk of a sweeping overhaul of the presidential palace's senior staff. If President Lee Jae Myung accepts Kang's resignation, two of the three top secretariat posts — chief of staff, policy chief and national security adviser — will sit vacant simultaneously. Amid the turmoil, Lee on Tuesday approved the appointments of Economy and Finance Minister Lee Hyung-il, Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul and Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Hong Ji-sun.
Kang submitted his resignation to Lee on Monday morning. A Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters that the president had repeatedly said at a press conference last week that public dissatisfaction with state affairs was his own fault, and that Kang had tendered his resignation to take comprehensive responsibility as the chief of staff who supports the president. Lee, however, said he had "not yet decided what to do" about the resignation.
The most immediate trigger for Kang's decision was the back-to-back withdrawal of two cabinet nominees — former Gender Equality and Family Minister nominee Yong Hye-in and former Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won. Kang chairs the presidential personnel committee.
The collapse of Kim Seung-won's nomination is understood to have been dealt a fatal blow when a former aide to the nominee delivered a letter containing additional allegations to Cheong Wa Dae and other parties.
Kang's resignation came roughly three weeks after Kim Yong-beom stepped down as policy chief. Kim resigned on Aug. 30, immediately after the announcement of a six-ministry cabinet reshuffle, having drawn criticism for championing the introduction of single-stock leveraged ETFs, which were blamed for stoking market volatility and encouraging speculative trading. His tenure also coincided with a sharp drop in public support — particularly among voters in their 20s and 30s — over the government's real estate tax reform plan and other key policy initiatives, and fierce opposition-led backlash erupted when it appeared he would survive the reshuffle. As with Kim's departure, Kang's exit can be seen as the palace accepting calls for a personnel shake-up to arrest the slide in approval ratings.
Observers say the pace of staff changes at Cheong Wa Dae is likely to accelerate further. Some have raised the possibility that National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac could also be replaced, meaning all three senior secretariat chiefs appointed at the launch of the Lee administration could end up being replaced with new faces.
The reshuffle may extend beyond the chief level to senior secretaries and aides. With the consecutive collapse of ministerial nominations exposing systemic weaknesses in the personnel recommendation and vetting process, calls are growing for the replacement of key staff in the political affairs, civil affairs and personnel lines. Some in political circles are also pressing for a wholesale reshuffling of the president's inner circle — a group sometimes referred to as the "Seongnam-Gyeonggi Province line" centered on First Personal Secretary Kim Hyun-ji — to maximize the impact of the renewal and restore policy momentum. Cheong Wa Dae said it has begun a substantive review to strengthen its personnel vetting system in response to the controversy over inadequate background checks.
Meanwhile, Lee, who traveled to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, approved the appointments of Economy and Finance Minister Lee Hyung-il, Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul and Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Hong Ji-sun on Monday (local time). All three had cleared the National Assembly's confirmation hearing process. Lee signed off on the appointments immediately upon arriving in New York, having departed from Seongnam Airport on Monday.
Earlier, the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Planning Committee adopted Lee Hyung-il's confirmation hearing report by bipartisan agreement on Friday. The National Assembly's Defense Committee adopted Kang Shin-chul's report the same day, in a vote led by the Democratic Party of Korea with People Power Party members absent. The National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee adopted Hong Ji-sun's report by bipartisan agreement on Monday.
sunpine@heraldcorp.com
