(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Pyeong-cheon and Choi Joo-seong = Kim Min-seok, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who pledged to 'unify the party and government' and 'drive a 10% point increase in approval ratings within three months after inauguration' as his election pledge, appears to be facing his first test in the face of the personnel hearing following the August 30 cabinet reshuffle.
As the approval ratings of the party office are falling, the political controversy surrounding the candidates for Minister of Gender Equality and Family Yong Hye-in and Minister of Justice Kim Seung-won is expanding day by day, and a sharp discord in public sentiment, especially among the 2030 generation, is becoming visible.
First of all, the key is to respond to the problem of Candidate Yong, who is in a difficult situation.
It is difficult for the ruling party to cover the situation in which Candidate Yong, who is criticized as a so-called 'honey spoon', 'specialized person', and 'quick success', is embroiled in controversy over the basic income party becoming a private party, but it is also a concern that it is burdensome to directly oppose the president's personnel appointment.
Within the party, voices calling for Candidate Yong’s voluntary resignation are growing.
A first-term lawmaker said in a phone call with Yonhap News on the 6th, "Candidate Yong did not apologize and showed a confident attitude, giving '2030' a hostile sense of deprivation," adding, "A situation has been created in which he has no choice but to resign from his position as a candidate."
However, Candidate Yong himself appears to be in holding mode, as he refuted the so-called trick tax-saving controversy the day before by saying that it was "ordinary political activity."
For this reason, if Candidate Yong fails to sufficiently resolve the criticism or controversy and only worsens public opinion, attention is focused on whether Representative Kim will play some kind of role in resolving the situation.
Earlier, on the 3rd, Representative Kim said, “The problem this time is the issue of judgment on facts that were revealed even without a hearing,” and added, “The various voices and judgments of the people need to be respected and considered in themselves.”
Regarding Representative Kim's statement of 'respecting the people's judgment', there is an interpretation that he was in fact asking Candidate Yong to change his attitude and not ignore controversies such as the status of concurrently holding proportional representation positions.
This is an interpretation that Representative Kim, who took power under the slogan of 'unity between the party and the government', may have exerted indirect pressure on Candidate Yong amid evaluations that it would be difficult to ask President Lee to withdraw his nomination.
Furthermore, there is a possibility that Representative Kim may make a 'advice' about Candidate Yong's future in the form of conveying public sentiment to the Blue House.
Previously, Representative Kim had asked President Lee Jae-myung at the end of last month to reconsider the approval of former People Power Party lawmaker In Yo-han for his inauguration as chairman of the Korean Red Cross.
In addition, observations were raised that Representative Kim played a behind-the-scenes role in the resignation of former Blue House policy chief Kim Yong-beom after the August 30 cabinet reshuffle.
Representative Kim's response to candidate Seung-won Kim, who, along with candidate Yong, is in the crossfire over suspicions of soliciting clinical approval for a so-called new drug, is also attracting attention.
The party has put up a shield against the suspicions by highlighting the fact that it has already undergone judicial verification through a prosecutorial investigation during the Yoon Seok-yeol administration.
In the case of Candidate Kim, given that he is a key figure in this cabinet reshuffle and that the new criminal justice system that will be introduced in October is urgently needed, it is inevitable for the party to provide all-out protection.
However, as independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon is releasing new transcripts every day that stimulate public sentiment, some analysts say that Candidate Kim also needs a reversal card.
In relation to this, on the 4th, Representative Kim effectively opened the door to a counterattack by saying to a lawmaker who is leading the raising of suspicions against candidate Kim, "He has not yet grasped his senses and is acting like he is firing a gun."
