Kim Seung-won and Yong Hye-in Controversies Grow. Will the Cabinet Shake-Up Lose Its Impact?

Controversies surrounding South Korean ministerial nominees Kim Seung-won and Yong Hye-in are spreading, raising questions about whether the cabinet reshuffle can still deliver its promised effect of renewing state affairs.

Opposition parties have launched an offensive over allegations that Kim, the nominee for justice minister, sought help with a clinical trial for a COVID-19 treatment. On the third, the Democratic Party called on independent candidate Han Dong-hoon, who raised the allegation, to stop making claims that distort the facts and apologize immediately.

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Stop making allegations that distort the facts and apologize immediately.

Yong, the nominee for gender equality and family minister, continues to face controversy over whether she can hold a ministerial position while remaining a lawmaker. Concerns have also grown within the ruling camp. Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok said he was “listening to many concerns and criticisms and thinking deeply” about Yong.

The political discussion program asks whether the nominees’ controversies will erase the impact of the reshuffle, why former presidential policy chief Kim Yong-beom resigned just two days after the cabinet changes, and what motivates Cho Kuk, head of the Innovation Policy Research Institute of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, to confront the government repeatedly through social media.

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I am listening to many concerns and criticisms and thinking deeply.