Yu Si-min, former head of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, assessed President Lee Jae-myung's nomination of Lee Hye-hoon as Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Budget by saying, "It may be that, as the president has been immersed in too many tasks, his political judgment has become somewhat lax."
On the 20th, Yu appeared on Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Ju-min's YouTube channel and stated accordingly his personal views on the personnel issues of the current administration and pending matters within the party. While he offered a positive assessment of President Lee Jae-myung, saying, "It seems overall he is doing well," he pointed to a change in the decision-making method in the process of nominating Lee Hye-hoon.
Yu said, "In the nomination of Lee Hye-hoon and in the process of pre-announcing legislation on the prosecution reform plan, it is hard from the outside to know how such decisions were made," adding, "It does seem clear that the method differed somewhat from how the president has handled things until now."
He went on, "In terms of political judgment, I think there may have been an aspect of becoming somewhat lax as the president has been immersed in too many other matters," adding, "There is a need to review the personnel vetting and decision-making systems."
Yu also offered a distinctive analysis of President Lee Jae-myung's political asset. He said, "The politician named Lee Jae-myung has a way of drawing support by making people feel not so much 'I should do something for that person' as 'I might be able to benefit from that person,'" adding, "Over the half-year since the inauguration, such expectations have grown among the public."
The remarks are seen as made with the personnel issue of Lee Hye-hoon, the Minister nominee for the Ministry of Planning and Budget, in mind, which has recently stirred controversy. The nominee has not had a confirmation hearing due to various allegations being raised.
On this, President Lee Jae-myung's position is that the candidate's explanation and objective verification should come first rather than reaching a conclusion based only on public opinion and allegations. At a New Year's press conference held at the state guesthouse at the Blue House on the 21st, Lee said regarding whether to withdraw the nomination of Lee Hye-hoon or to request the submission of a hearing report, "I have not yet decided what to do." Lee said, "I wanted to hear the candidate's account publicly and also hear the judgment of the public who would observe the hearing process, but I regret that the opportunity was blocked."
Lee said, "There are parts where the public has concerns, so it does seem there is a problem," while adding, "From my perspective, I think we should directly hear the candidate's own explanation." On responsibility for personnel vetting at the Blue House, Lee acknowledged, "In conclusion, it may be criticized as inadequate," but added, "The current situation has an aspect of driving things as if punishing a traitor in the movie 'The Godfather.'"
He also said, "There is a view that says, 'It is our administration, so why give important posts to figures from the opposing camp,' and they feel disappointed," while stressing, "From the moment one is elected president, the conviction must be to represent the whole." He offered a metaphor: "Just because the tribe that uses swords won does not mean everyone must only use swords," adding, "If necessary, you use swords, bows, and spears."
Meanwhile, Yu commented on the case of lawmakers Kim Byung-kee and Kang Sun-woo, who recently left the Democratic Party of Korea amid allegations of accepting nomination bribes, saying, "It is not that a problem that did not exist has newly arisen; rather, problems that used to be concealed are now being revealed," adding, "We can fix the system by identifying institutional loopholes." He added, "There are still many things that need to be corrected, but this is not an issue that should be seen as the culture of the entire Democratic Party."