President Lee selects 'economic chief of staff'... Surpassed the second year with pragmatism

23 days after Kang Hoon-sik’s resignation… Lim Gwang-hyun's card broke public predictions about the appointment of a politician

Economic bureaucrats in the Blue Control Tower... State administration focuses on ‘economic and people’s livelihood achievements’

My brother-in-law is ‘Daejang-dong lawyer’ Lee Seung-yeop… The task is to dispel the opposition party's 'thank you' offensive

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Seol Seung-eun = President Lee Jae-myung's sudden selection of National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun, a former economic bureaucrat, on the 14th as chief of staff to assist the government in its second year of administration is interpreted as a choice based on the philosophy of performance-oriented pragmatism that he has always emphasized.

The Blue House announced on this day that President Lee had selected Commissioner Lim as his successor as Chief of Staff, 23 days after the first Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik expressed his resignation, taking responsibility for various personnel issues and a decline in approval ratings.

Some in the political world say that the 'Lim Gwang-hyun card' is unexpected.

This is because, as it is a position that assists him at close range, it has been mainly predicted that President Lee will either use a pro-Myung (pro-Lee Jae-myung) person, or symbolically select a person from the non-Lee Jae-myung faction in order to unify the pan-progressive camp that is making explosive noises.

Commissioner Lim had a history of serving as a proportional representative member of the 22nd National Assembly for about a year before taking office as head of the National Tax Service, but after entering public service through the civil service examination in 1995, he worked as a bureaucrat in the tax field for most of his life, so he can be seen as closer to a bureaucrat than a politician.

In a situation where concerns have been raised about the weakening of the power of state administration due to the recent decline in approval ratings and division of the support base, the choice of Commissioner Lim, who is not an orthodox politician, is read as a political strategy to overcome the crisis while making it clear that the axis of state administration will be centered on the 'economy and people's livelihood'.

In the same context, some say that this appointment symbolically demonstrates President Lee's core national administration policy, 'pragmatism.'

Unlike the early days of the regime, when the primary task was to minimize the chaos of martial law and impeachment, it seems that the fact that now, in the second year of administration, is a time when it is necessary to actually produce results that will touch the people's skin seems to have been taken into consideration.

When announcing Director Lim's appointment, Director Kang also described him as "a politician with a wealth of administrative experience and a sense of political affairs, a former economic bureaucrat" and "the right person to speed up the performance of state affairs through cooperation with the party, government, and government," which is also in line.

Director Kang also explained, "As the first head of the National Tax Service under the Lee Jae-myung administration, I have contributed to establishing tax justice and have faithfully implemented the president's national administration philosophy of lowering the wall of inequality so that all citizens can enjoy a better life in the policy field."

President Lee has actually continued to publicly praise Commissioner Lim for his performance in collecting large amounts of arrears.

Immediately, he looked for Commissioner Lim, who was absent from the meeting the day before due to attending the National Assembly audit, and applauded him, saying, "I was planning to give him a commendation today. The National Tax Service is doing very well these days. Should I at least give him a round of applause in his absence?"

On the 9th, citing a report on social media that the National Tax Service, led by Commissioner Lim, is improving the performance of delinquent tax collection by strengthening tracking of overseas hidden assets of large delinquent taxpayers, he encouraged, saying, "These public officials greatly contribute to the development of the country."

In May and April of last year, he also praised the performance of collecting delinquent taxes and said, "National Tax Service public officials and National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun, you are doing a great job," and "I am grateful to Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun, who left the National Assembly and took over as Commissioner of the National Tax Service, for your hard work."

Meanwhile, the relationship between President Lee, Commissioner Lim, and his family is also attracting attention.

Commissioner Lim joined the party as a recruited talent ahead of the 22nd general election when President Lee was the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and wore a gold badge as a proportional representative of the pan-opposition proportional representation satellite party.

After the inauguration of the government last year, he resigned from his position as a member of the National Assembly and was appointed as the first Commissioner of the National Tax Service in the current government.

Commissioner Lim's spouse is the Consul General in Houston, Lee Kyung-eun, who took office last March, and his brother-in-law, Attorney Seung-yeop Lee, is a former defense attorney for President Lee in the Daejeon-dong case. This lawyer was also mentioned as a candidate for the Constitutional Court last year.

In particular, as the opposition party is launching an offensive with the intention that the 'thank you' for lawyer Lee's defense of the Daejang-dong case will continue, how to dispel this view can be seen as a task given to President Lee and Commissioner Lim.