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| From left are Jeon Hae-cheol, the nominee for interior and safety minister, Kwon Deok-cheol, the nominee for health minister, Byeon Chang-heum, the nominee for land minister, and Chung Young-ai, the nominee for gender equality minister. / Yonhap |
By Kang Seung-woo
President Moon Jae-in carried out a reshuffle of four Cabinet ministers Friday, including replacing Land Minister Kim Hyun-mee, in what appears to be a move to break through his ongoing political challenges and slow the arrival of a lame-duck period.
However, the President refused to replace Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, who is under heavy pressure from the opposition which is calling on her to resign. The refusal to replace her is seen as Moon giving the green light for her to continue the government's drive for prosecutorial reform.
Political watchers say the latest reshuffle, only highlighted Moon's endorsement of the justice minister, and would not be enough to turn things around in the second half of his presidency.
The shake-up came one day after Moon's approval rating hit a record low of 37.4 percent, with housing prices in major regions continuing to rise, and a power struggle between the justice minister and the top prosecutor deepening. This was the first time his public approval fell below 40 percent since his inauguration in May 2017.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, President Moon has nominated Byeon Chang-heum, head of the Korea Land and Housing Corp., as the new land, infrastructure and transport minister, while Kwon Deok-cheol, head of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, was picked as health minister.
Rep. Jeon Hae-cheol of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, better known as Moon's close aide, was tapped to lead the interior and safety ministry, while Chung Young-ai, head of the Korea Foundation for Women, was nominated as the gender equality minister.
The former land minister has been a lightning rod for the government's failure to curb real estate prices.
Although Kim, Moon's first land minister, and his ministry have rolled out 24 sets of measures to cool down the real estate market, the average apartment price per 3.3 square meters in the capital soared 58 percent to 41.6 million won ($38,000) during Moon's three years in power. The number is 4.5 times the increase tallied for nine years under the preceding two conservative governments, according to the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice, raising doubts on President Moon's repeated pledges to tackle property speculation and skyrocketing housing prices.
As a result, the opposition bloc, including the People Power Party (PPP), has long urged Moon to sack the former third-term lawmaker, but on all occasions, the head of state endorsed her.
"It does not make sense why the Moon administration has pushed back this reshuffle until now even though it would not have been well-received whatever the case. The latest shake-up failed to deliver his determination to turn the tables, and is seen as a stopgap measure to avoid the worst criticism on his administration," Hangil Research director and political analyst Hong Hyeong-sik said.
"If you want to get good marks in a reshuffle, it should have to do with pending issues negatively affecting the government. Of course, media attention is falling on the housing market issue, but the justice minister is a bigger problem for the President. With Choo retaining her post, this reshuffle cannot carry weight.
"At least, Moon should have delivered a message about prosecutorial reform, if not replacing Choo."
The PPP also downplayed the effectiveness of the reshuffle.
"(In the reshuffle) we can't see any willingness of the Moon administration to fix state affairs that have been ruined for the last four years," Rep. Bae June-young, a spokesman of the PPP, said in a statement.
Over the replacement of the land minister, Bae said it came "too late" because "the real estate market has already gone out of control through 24 rounds of failures."
The nominees need to be confirmed at the National Assembly.
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