President Lee Jae-myung on the 14th named National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun as his new presidential chief of staff. The replacement comes 23 days after former chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik offered to resign. With the repeated withdrawals of ministerial nominees and failures in personnel vetting cited as the backdrop to Kang's resignation, the new chief of staff carries a heavy burden. Having replaced its policy chief and now its chief of staff, the presidential office's second-term lineup must use this reshuffle as an opportunity to overhaul state affairs and deliver results on livelihood issues. Lim is a career tax administration official who served as NTS deputy commissioner, and he also has experience as a National Assembly member. But the chief of staff's job goes beyond expertise in a single field to coordinating the entire government agenda. What is needed above all is the balance to align policy direction among the ruling party, the government and the presidential office, and to convey the full range of public sentiment to the president without distortion.
Immediately after his appointment, Lim said, "Over the past year, the people's sovereignty government has produced meaningful results together with the public." Yet the public's own assessment is anything but warm. Behind the president's approval rating, stuck in the 30% range, lies frustration over livelihood issues such as unstable home prices and sluggish consumption. As Lim himself pledged, he must act with a sense of urgency and produce change that the public can feel firsthand.
The starting point for renewal is repairing the broken personnel vetting system. The successive withdrawals of ministerial nominees have sapped the government's momentum and damaged public trust. The administration must examine what was missed in the recommendation and vetting process, and whether nominations were pushed through despite known problems. Above all, accurate reporting and candid advice are core duties of the chief of staff. He must not shy away from objecting to ill-advised appointments or policies. Moreover, given that Lim's brother-in-law served as defense counsel in major cases involving the president, including the Daejang-dong case, the opposition's criticism of a "reward appointment" can ultimately be overcome only through candid counsel to the president.
The presidential office has repeatedly sown confusion over housing policy and the Farmland Act, among other issues. Conflicting policy intentions and enforcement standards, along with mixed messages from the ruling party, the government and the presidential office, have heightened public anxiety and market uncertainty. The new chief of staff must fulfill the role of coordinator — thoroughly checking whether policies can be carried out through close consultation among the ruling party and ministries before announcements, and moving quickly to supplement them afterward. Communication with the opposition must not be neglected either. Lim will have to prove the "livelihood results" he promised on his first day in office not with words but with concrete changes in governance.