Lee Jae Myung faces mounting criticism over minister picks
The conservative main opposition People Power Party's interim leader, Rep. Song Eon-seog, demanded that Lee not proceed with presidential nominations of at least two nominees at a closed-door meeting with President Lee and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's floor leader Rep. Kim Byung-kee, according to the People Power Party. There, Kim demanded that Lee approve all 16 minister nominees who completed the confirmation hearing over the past week.
This came alongside the main opposition party's statement Sunday that the presidential nominations of Rep. Kang Sun-woo to lead the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and former Chungnam National University President Lee Jin-sook for Education Minister should be withdrawn.
In South Korea, a president may proceed with the approval of their nominations for all Cabinet ministers once they have undergone a parliamentary confirmation hearing. The National Assembly is supposed to adopt confirmation hearing reports if the two rival parties agree on the presidential nomination, but they are not required for a president to proceed with his approval.
Kang, a two-time lawmaker of the ruling party, is suspected of having abused her authority by asking her secretaries to do her personal chores. Lee is embroiled in allegations related to academic plagiarism and excessive spending on her children's education overseas, which allegedly involved a violation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
The brewing controversy over Lee's nomination of Kang has drawn mixed reactions, even from within the ruling party.
Rep. Jung Chung-rae, who openly expressed support for Kang by describing her as not only "a warmhearted mother and outstanding lawmaker" but also a "soon-to-be gender equality minister," has taken the lead in the primary to elect the new chair of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. Jung's contender and former party whip Rep. Park Chan-dae, on the other hand, called for prudence before the presidential confirmation of the matter.
According to the presidential office, Lee was to make up his mind on his nominations following a presidential office closed-door briefing on Sunday; his final decision had yet to be announced as of press time.
Meanwhile, such controversies appear to have had little impact on Lee's popularity.
A poll by Gallup Korea showed Friday that Lee's job approval rating reached 64 percent, as responses hovered around the mid-60 percent range over the past month. Among those who disapproved of Lee's performance, only 11 percent cited his presidential nominations as the reason for their disapproval.
Before Sunday, Lee approved the nominations of six ministers of the Cabinet.
These are Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Koo Yoon-cheol, Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon, Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, Interior Minister Kim Jung-kwan and Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung. Prime Minister Kim Min-seok gained a final presidential confirmation on July 3.
They were among the 16 ministerial nominees who underwent confirmation hearings throughout the previous week. Along with them, Lim Kwang-hyun, who was picked for the role of the chief of the tax authorities — a vice-ministerial level position — also went through the hearing.
South Korea's Cabinet comprises 20 members, including a prime minister and 19 ministers.
Among them, incumbent Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryung, who had been serving in the role before President Lee took office, will not undergo a confirmation hearing. The two remaining nominees — Chae Hwi-young of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Kim Yun-duk of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport — have yet to go through confirmation hearings.
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