"Kim, the First Secretary, is extremely diligent and speaks her mind without hesitation"
"President Lee believes that reform can only succeed when resistance is minimized"
Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik revealed that preparations for organizational restructuring, as well as personnel appointments involving spokesperson Kim Nam-jun and First Secretary Kim Hyun-ji, had been underway for a month prior.
On October 4, Kang appeared on the YouTube show "Maebul Show" and stated that when he announced the establishment of the Senior Presidential Secretary for Personnel in early September, he had already been preparing for subsequent organizational restructuring and personnel changes. Accordingly, on September 29, the Presidential Office appointed Kim Nam-jun, then First Secretary, as spokesperson, and Kim Hyun-ji, then Secretary for General Affairs, as First Secretary.
The opposition party claimed that these organizational and personnel changes within the Presidential Office were intended to prevent First Secretary Kim from appearing at the National Assembly's audit. In response, the Presidential Office has consistently argued that the personnel changes were unrelated to the audit appearance. Kang reaffirmed this stance, emphasizing that these appointments had been prepared before any attention was given to the audit appearance.
Kang also described First Secretary Kim's work style, saying, "She is extremely diligent and speaks her mind without hesitation." He added, "President Lee Jae-myung considers her one of the people who gives him the most candid advice." He further commented, "If you look at the people who have worked with President Lee for a long time, you might wonder why. Observing her, you get the impression that 'Kim Hyun-ji really says everything she needs to say.'"
Kang provided a metaphor to explain President Lee's approach to leading reforms, stating, "President Lee believes that reform should be like gently coaxing those who feel uncomfortable onto the operating table, putting them under anesthesia, and having them wake up thinking, 'Oh, I guess my abdomen was opened. The tumor must have been removed.'" He continued, "Reform must be done this way to minimize resistance, and only when resistance is minimized can it succeed. Looking back, there were always reasons why our initiatives failed in the past, even when we had the numbers and were the ruling party."
He also said, "The result should be that the public feels, 'Reform has brought good things,'" and added, "The President believes that the government must make people feel that its role is to create a better life, even in the face of political forces making noise outside."
Meanwhile, Kang explained that just before the South Korea-U.S. summit, he mentioned the presidents' sense of shared experience to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, in relation to a post by U.S. President Donald Trump on social media about purges and revolutions.
Kang said, "I told Chief of Staff Wiles that President Trump seems to misunderstand because of the wounds he suffered from legal actions by former President Joe Biden. In fact, we have been in a similar position to President Trump, having undergone raids during the previous administration." Kang added that he asked Wiles to report to President Trump that the special prosecutor's investigation into religious organizations is a process of correcting past wrongs.
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