Presidential Office "No Personnel Appointments Have Been Reviewed"
President Yoon Suk-yeol is considering figures from the Moon Jae-in administration for the new Prime Minister and Chief of Staff positions, prompting Lee Jun-seok, leader of the Reform New Party, to criticize him as a "Moon Jae-in avatar."
Lee Jun-seok, leader of the Reform New Party, is speaking at the disbandment ceremony of the Reform New Party Central Election Countermeasures Committee held at the National Assembly on the 11th. [Image source=Yonhap News]
On the 17th, Lee shared on his Facebook that President Yoon is reportedly seriously considering Park Young-sun, a former Minister of SMEs and Startups during the Moon Jae-in government and former Democratic Party lawmaker, as the successor for Prime Minister, and Yang Jeong-cheol, a close aide to former President Moon and former head of the Democratic Research Institute, as the successor for Chief of Staff.
He said, "If the personnel appointments proceed like this, at first, only MB faction New Right members were appointed and he was called an 'MB avatar,' but now he is a Moon Jae-in avatar." He added, "A dreadful hybrid," and said, "Now I understand why conservative figures were so harshly suppressed and driven out within the party from the beginning of the inauguration." However, the presidential office stated that no such appointments have been under consideration.
President Yoon Suk-yeol is speaking at the Cabinet meeting held on the 16th at the Presidential Office building in Yongsan, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Earlier, at the Cabinet meeting and staff meeting held at the Yongsan Presidential Office the previous day, President Yoon reportedly said, "I apologize for not being able to properly heed and serve the will of the people starting from the president himself," and added, "How well and how much we do politics for the people is something we must reflect on while being disciplined by the people."
Meanwhile, Lee Jun-seok, who once served as the leader of the People Power Party, founded the Reform New Party after leaving the party. He entered politics in 2011 when he was recruited to the emergency committee of the then Saenuri Party under Park Geun-hye, earning the nickname "Park Geun-hye kid." Later, he led the People Power Party to victory in the 2022 presidential and local elections but stepped down from the party leadership before completing his two-year term due to conflicts with President Yoon and other issues.
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