President Lee Jae-myung on the 14th named National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun as his new presidential chief of staff, 23 days after Kang Hoon-sik publicly offered to resign from the post on Sept. 21. The appointment, coming as the administration enters the midpoint of its term, is seen as an effort to strengthen policy coordination and deliver visible results on livelihood issues by tapping a career economic bureaucrat who also has experience in the National Assembly.
At a briefing at the presidential office on the same day, Kang said Lim "contributed to establishing tax justice as the first National Tax Service commissioner of the Lee Jae-myung administration and has faithfully carried out the president's governing philosophy in the field." He added that because Lim has experience across both the National Assembly and the government, "he will reflect the voices of the people more strongly in state affairs and accelerate policy results through cooperation among the party, the government and the presidential office."
Immediately after the announcement, Lim said his "calling is to produce changes in people's lives that they can feel firsthand." He added, "As the top official assisting the president, I will take responsibility for all operations of the presidential office and devote all my energy to delivering results on livelihood issues." A senior presidential official said that while the first-phase staff "focused on normalizing what had been abnormal, the second phase must deliver results that the public can feel," calling Lim "the right person, with experience across the party, the government and the presidential office, as well as the capability for the job."
Lim entered public service in 1995 after passing the 38th higher civil service examination, and went on to serve as director general of the National Tax Service's investigation bureau, commissioner of the Seoul Regional Tax Office and deputy commissioner of the National Tax Service. A specialist in taxation and economic affairs who worked across the agency's investigation divisions, he also served in the economic policy secretary's office at the presidential office under the Roh Moo-hyun administration. He later served as a member of the 22nd National Assembly and as standing vice chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea's policy committee before taking office as National Tax Service commissioner in July last year. During his tenure, he is credited with demonstrating policy execution by pursuing the tracking of large-scale delinquent taxpayers, improvements to the collection system and the operation of a national tax delinquency management unit.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the president said Kang "played a major role in quickly stabilizing the new administration, which took office amid political turmoil, and in normalizing state affairs." To Lim, he said, "Let us infinitely respect the will of the Korean people and cross this great watershed of our modern history together."