Regarding Blue House reshuffle... Jeong Jeom-sik: "Mere to shift the focus... Jung Dong-young and Kim Yong-beom must be dismissed"

News1 [Financial News] As the Blue House carried out personnel changes for senior secretaries, Jeong Jeom-sik, Floor Leader of the People Power Party, criticized the move on the 21st, calling it "a personnel change intended to divert public attention and shift the focus. " He also demanded the dismissal of Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young and Blue House Policy Chief Kim Yong-bum.
Floor Leader Jeong stated this via social media on the same day, saying, "If the Lee Jae-myung administration continues with deceptive personnel changes intended to shift the focus and strengthen the existing policy rather than shifting the direction of state affairs, public trust in the administration will continue to decline. " Earlier on the same day, President Lee Jae-myung appointed Sung Ki-hong, former President of Yonhap News Agency, as the new Senior Secretary for Public Relations and Communication at the Blue House.
Han Chan-sik, a lawyer at Kim & Chang Law Firm and a former prosecutor, was appointed Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs, and Kim Kyung-ja, a visiting professor at Woosuk University and former Senior Vice Chairperson of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), was appointed Senior Secretary for Social Affairs. Kang Geon-jak, a member of the Presidential Committee on Future Defense Strategy, was selected as the First Deputy Director of the National Security Office, and Song Ki-ho, the current Secretary for Economic Security, was appointed as the Third Deputy Director.
In response, Floor Leader Chung argued, "The appointment of Sung Ki-hong, former president of Yonhap News Agency and a former media company president, to the position of Senior Secretary for Public Relations and Communication—following Senior Secretary Lee Kyu-yeon—is an inappropriate personnel decision that undermines the independence of the press," adding that it "blatantly reveals the purpose of seizing control of the media. " Floor Leader Chung stated, "By appointing a former KCTU Senior Vice Chairperson to the position of Senior Secretary for Social Affairs, which oversees health, welfare, labor, education, and culture, the government has further strengthened its biased, 'code-based' appointments favoring labor unions," and criticized, "With the Minister of Employment and Labor already a former KCTU Chairperson, this move shows an even greater obsession with taking care of the KCTU and its own side.
" He emphasized, "It is a [unclear] aspect.
" He continued to pressure, stating, "What the Lee Jae-myung administration needs right now is a personnel reshuffle to shift the direction of state affairs," and added, "Chief of Policy Kim Yong-bum, who is causing confusion among the public by hinting at raising property and capital gains taxes immediately after the election, must be dismissed first.
" In addition, he urged, "Minister of Unification Jeong Dong-young, who is causing confusion regarding national identity by advocating for a 'North Korean-style two-state theory' and the removal of the term 'main enemy,' must be dismissed, and the foreign policy and security line must be reorganized.
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haeram@fnnews.com Lee Hae-ram Reporter