[Noh Dong-il Column] Time to Reset the President’s Leadership

Over the past month, President Lee Jae-myung has posted around 120 to 130 times on X (formerly Twitter). That is at least three times the 30 to 40 posts a month he made early in his term. He also posts frequently late at night. President Lee directly responds to criticism from the media or the opposition. But the posts he devotes particular effort to are rebuttals to criticism from within the ruling camp over prosecution reform and the appointment of the head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency. The president’s efforts to communicate are not in themselves something to criticize. They also represent “direct communication with the people.” The problem is that the side effects are greater.
Like love letters written at night, late-night social media posts can suffer from an excess of emotion and a lack of rational perspective. It is also questionable whether going back and forth with critics over every issue, big and small, is appropriate for governing. The appointment of Kim Ji-yong as a candidate for head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency is a case in point. The president has traded rebuttals and counterrebuttals as if going head-to-head with Gyeonggi Governor Choo Mi-ae and lawmakers Kim Yong-min and Park Eun-jung. The president is both the head of state and the head of the executive branch. It raises questions whether he is even in their weight class to take them on one-on-one, and whether he should be preoccupied with identifying “pro-Yoon prosecutors” instead of addressing the many pressing issues facing the country.
An even bigger problem is that mere provincial governors and lawmakers are openly challenging the president’s authority to make appointments. Despite the president’s repeated attempts to persuade them, there is no sign they are willing to accept his position. His words carry little weight; to put it bluntly, they simply do not get through. In a presidential system, we call this a “lame duck.” Similar signs are visible in several places. Democratic Party of Korea leader Kim Min-seok seems to have other priorities besides governing.
The date marked in Kim’s notebook beside the words “Lee Jin-sook, Han Dong-hoon out” was the 9th of last month. About three weeks later, on the 1st, a sticky note bearing the words “Han Dong-hoon file” was also spotted in the notebook. During the confirmation hearing for former Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won, Kim Min-seok engaged in a direct war of words with lawmaker Han Dong-hoon. Despite criticism that, as leader of the ruling party, he is only raising the profile of independent lawmaker Han, Kim appears fixated on keeping him in check. Recent polls show Kim and Han vying for the top two spots among potential candidates in the next presidential election. One cannot help but think he is acting with the next race in mind. We also call it a lame duck when a succession race begins before even half of a president’s term has passed.
In a Gallup Korea poll conducted on the 6th through the 8th and released on the 9th, support for the Democratic Party of Korea stood at 35%, its lowest level since the current administration took office. That was down 5 percentage points from the poll three weeks earlier. President Lee’s job approval rating also remained at a record low of 37%, matching the previous survey. Given the opposition’s negligible presence, it is easy to see that the decline in support is due to problems within the ruling camp. Assessments point to endless infighting within the ruling camp over so-called prosecution reform, as well as to considerable public fatigue because “too many tasks, from farmland inspections to real estate measures, have simply been launched without being followed through.”
The diplomatic and security turmoil, once a factor in President Lee’s favorable ratings, is also serious. The “commensurate response” to the land mine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone, confirmed to have been caused by North Korea, remains nowhere in sight, while disagreements within the government—including the ministries of national defense, foreign affairs and unification—are all that have been exposed. Amid this, the Ministry of Unification has come out with the absurd policy of providing medical equipment to North Korea, only to become the target of Kim Yo-jong’s ridicule as a “clown show.” With the people’s pride battered, there is little chance the president can build momentum for governing. It is also becoming clear that there are problems in South Korea-U.S. relations.
Kim is said to be resetting his leadership by making fewer remarks at public meetings and gradually cutting back on appearances on the party’s official YouTube channel. The ruling camp should likewise begin resetting President Lee’s leadership, even now. The first step should be to reduce the number of messages he posts. In particular, aides should actively urge him to cut back on late-night social media posts. This is not simply a matter of “dignity.” When writing late at night in a state of solitary absorption, it is easy for extreme or emotional expressions to creep into his messages. Referring to former President Roh Moo-hyun, President Lee signaled that he intends to maintain his current stance, saying, “The harder things get, and the more intense the distorted attacks become, the more we must communicate directly with the people and rely on them.”
Messages from the head of state should avoid arbitrary late-night messaging when emotions are running high. They should be carefully refined with aides in the clear light of day before being put before the public. The president should pause and reflect on why his words are not getting through even to his own side, and what has caused these premature signs of a lame duck. He must understand that going back and forth with individuals one by one is not candid communication; it weakens his ability to govern and brings lame-duck status upon himself. If his aides cannot even offer that level of advice, their value should be called into question. Getting the government back on track comes next.
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