Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Moon gov't suffers from politicians-turned ministers
By Nam Hyun-woo
Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Lee Gae-ho
By Nam Hyun-woo
The Moon Jae-in administration faces a range of daunting tasks to revive the sinking Korean economy, but many do not expect the pro-labor government to do any good as long as politicians-turned-ministers occupy key economy-related ministries.
The problem is that many ministers ― former and current lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) ― appear to have paid greater attention to earning a party ticket to run in next year's general elections, rather than dealing with dire policy issues affecting the people.
The government holds economic ministers' meetings to coordinate respective ministries' policymaking and responses to current affairs. It is comprised of 17 minister-level policymakers and presidential chief of economic policy.
Of these ministers, seven are lawmakers of the 20th National Assembly ― Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mee, Agriculture Minister Lee Gae-ho, Interior Minister Kim Boo-kyum, Fisheries Minister Kim Young-choon, Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae, Culture Minister Do Jong-hwan and Gender Equality Minister Jin Sun-mee.
Adding Startups Minister Hong Jong-haak, who served as a lawmaker in the 19th Assembly, nearly half the country's economy-related ministers are expected to spend their energy and time preparing the general election.
Several ministers have already confirmed that they will run for next year's general election, describing themselves as “limited-time ministers.”
At a recent meeting with reporters, agriculture minister Lee said, “My days as minister are numbered” and that he would quit the job before the general election, adding that he was already taking extra care of voters.
Lee, a DPK lawmaker, became agriculture minister in August 2018, filling a five-month vacancy. However, he has been reiterating that he will continue his career as a lawmaker, drawing criticism that he is using the ministerial post to boost his resume.
Fisheries Minister Kim Young-choon also dropped hints that he may run for the general election during a meeting with reporters this week. Reportedly, Kim, a first-term DPK lawmaker, has been frequenting his constituency in Busan on recent weekends and is scheduled to visit the city again to attend a National Assembly seminar.
Transport Minister Kim has already said she will run for the general election, and Culture Minister Do, Gender Equality Minister Jin and Interior Minister Kim are highly expected to stand.
The problem is that their ministries will all have their chiefs replaced at once and the ministers will focus on their campaigns.
A source close to the matter said, “The first half of this year will likely be a personnel chaos, because they will likely resign from their posts at least six months before the election to begin in April next year.
“The Moon administration is faced with various uncertainties weighing down the economy, but it is worrisome that the ministers will likely be distracted by the election, making political decisions good for their constituency.”