[100 Days of Yoon Administration] Opposition Rates 'Failing Grade,' Urges "Comprehensive Personnel Overhaul"

Woo Sang-ho "Yoon Seok-yeol's 'Fairness and Common Sense', the Most Painful Issue is the Breaking of the Representative Brand"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The Democratic Party of Korea urged President Yoon Seok-yeol, who is marking his 100th day in office, on the 16th to undertake a "comprehensive personnel reshuffle."

On this day, Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, stated at the morning floor strategy meeting, "According to the special 8.15 public opinion poll results, 7 out of 10 citizens believe 'the government is managing affairs poorly,' and the majority hold 'the president himself responsible,'" adding, "President Yoon must heed the angry public sentiment without missing the moment and strongly urged him to carry out a comprehensive personnel reshuffle of the Presidential Office and the Cabinet."

Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the emergency countermeasure meeting held at the National Assembly on the 12th and delivering an opening remark. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Floor leader Park criticized, "President Yoon is said to be reinforcing his close aides rather than reshuffling personnel," and added, "Despite repeated criticisms that personnel appointments have been problematic since the president took office, the comprehensive personnel reshuffle and shift in government policy that the public expected are once again being ignored."

On the same morning, Woo Sang-ho, the emergency committee chairman, appeared on MBC Radio’s ‘Kim Jong-bae’s Focus’ and pointed out personnel issues, saying, "The most painful problem is that Yoon Seok-yeol’s signature brand of ‘fairness and common sense’ has been broken." He also gave a failing grade to the 100-day evaluation.

Chairman Woo said, "The problem of not distinguishing between public and private affairs in personnel appointments, and the overly prosecution-centered appointments, violated the standards of fairness and common sense, which disappointed the public," and added, "The president’s wife’s involvement in various public and private affairs and personnel matters also showed a failure to distinguish between public and private, fundamentally reflecting a lack of public-mindedness and destroying the brand of fairness and common sense. These were key factors that disappointed even those on the same side."

He continued, "It is very important to correct these issues now, but it seems that the president is not receptive to criticism regarding these problems in attitude," and said, "I think it will be difficult to overcome this in a short period."

Regarding personnel reshuffle, he criticized, "After returning from vacation, isn’t the president trying to reinforce personnel? How can appointing former lawmaker Kim Eun-hye to the publicity department be considered a personnel reshuffle? How can reinforcement be reshuffling?"

Chairman Woo assessed that the basic trust in President Yoon has collapsed, stating, "Withdrawing some support can be restored again, but if structured disappointment lasts long, recovery is difficult." He also said, "The fact that even supporters have withdrawn their support means many serious mistakes have been made, so it is hard to give a good score," and added, "It seems correct to say it is a failing grade."

He advised that at the 100-day press conference scheduled for tomorrow (the 17th), President Yoon should sincerely acknowledge his shortcomings and explain how he plans to change problematic aspects.

Chairman Woo emphasized, "It is not important to work hard, but the direction must be good and right," and said, "Instead of feeling wronged about working hard, there needs to be an effort to evaluate what went wrong with the direction."

In the afternoon, the Democratic Party will hold a "100-day Evaluation Forum of the Yoon Seok-yeol Government" at the National Assembly under the theme "Is the Yoon Seok-yeol Government’s National Administration Okay as It Is?" At this event, the Democratic Party plans to evaluate the ruling party’s failures and diagnose the reality where government incompetence is causing harm to the public across various sectors.