‘Brother-in-law represented Lee’: Controversy over Lim Gwang-hyeon’s ‘reward appointment’; Blue House says ‘no basis’

[Financial News] The Blue House on the 15th pushed back against allegations of a “reward appointment,” raised because the brother-in-law of newly appointed presidential chief of staff Lim Gwang-hyeon is lawyer Lee Seung-yeop, who represented President Lee Jae-myung in a case, saying, “There is no basis for a causal link.”
Senior Presidential Secretary for Public Relations and Communications Seong Gi-hong said on CBS Radio’s “Park Seong-tae’s News Show” that day, responding to suggestions that linked Lee’s career to Lim’s appointment, “Connecting the career of the person who is his brother-in-law to the chief of staff’s appointment establishes only the fact that the two are brothers-in-law and family; there is no basis for a causal link.”
Seong said Chief Lim “has demonstrated his abilities for at least 20 years as an economic bureaucrat,” explaining that his achievements as a member of the National Assembly and commissioner of the National Tax Service (NTS) were the basis for his appointment. He added, “This is an appointment for a presidential office that gets things done and a government that gets things done.”
He also rebutted allegations surrounding the appointment of Lee Gyeong-eun, Chief Lim’s spouse, as consul general in Houston. Seong said, “Chief Lim Gwang-hyeon and Consul General Lee Gyeong-eun, who is currently serving in Houston, are both people with exceptionally strong individual professional abilities and career records.”
Asked whether her appointment as consul general was appropriate given that Lee had previously worked as a civil servant at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, he replied, “That’s not quite accurate.” Her time at the ministry was only part of her overall career: she began her public service at the Government Information Agency, handled overseas public relations at the Blue House under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, and worked in international relations, including as head of the Amnesty International Korea office.
Seong also explained the direction of government that Chief Lim’s appointment represents. If former Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik designed the roadmap for a government that took office without a transition committee, the priority now is to turn it into results that the public can feel, he said.
He emphasized that Lim also has experience as a member of the National Assembly, saying, “As a traditional career economic official, (Chief Lim) is a bureaucrat who actually demonstrated his ability by delivering results during his tenure as commissioner of the NTS.”
Responding to concerns about the political acumen of a chief of staff from the bureaucracy, he cited the collection of large delinquent tax debts and the recovery of taxes as examples. Seong said, “I think the process of smoothly achieving results in those areas requires not only policy expertise but also political judgment.”
He added, “Since the presidential office as a whole operates as a system, I expect things to remain on an even keel and the work to continue in that regard.”
He rebutted rumors of a rift between former Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik and Kim Hyeon-ji, head of the President’s secretariat, saying, “That premise is wrong.” Seong said, “The entire presidential office system has continued to operate with Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik at its center,” adding, “There are far too many cases where rumors like that differ from the actual truth.”

[email protected] Seong Seok-woo Reporter