Opposition Points to 'Early Lame Duck' for Moon... Ruling Party Says "No Signs Detected at All"

Noise over 청 (Blue House) staff reshuffle sparks 'Lame Duck' criticism from opposition
"No disagreement between party and 청," "No difficulty in policy implementation," ruling party promptly denies

Former Blue House Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Kim Jo-won is attending the 'Party-Government-Blue House Consultation on Power Institution Reform for the People' held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 30th of last month. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] In response to opposition parties' claims that signs of a 'lame duck' phenomenon are emerging in the Moon Jae-in administration amid the reshuffling of Blue House aides, the Democratic Party of Korea has issued a rebuttal.

Earlier on the 7th, six Blue House aides, including Presidential Chief of Staff Noh Young-min and former Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Kim Jo-won, collectively tendered their resignations. Among them, former Senior Secretary Kim recently put his apartment in Jamsil, Seoul, on the market following Blue House guidelines to 'dispose of all properties except the primary residence.' However, it was revealed that the asking price was set about 200 million KRW higher than the highest transaction price on record, leading to speculation that he might not actually intend to sell.

Amid these controversies, some in the opposition claimed this was a precursor to a lame duck phase for the Moon administration.

Professor Kim Geun-sik of Gyeongnam National University, who serves as the head of the Future United Party's Songpa-byeong district committee in Seoul, wrote on his Facebook on the 11th, "The collective resignation of the senior secretaries under the Chief of Staff feels like an internal shipwreck escape and an early sign of a lame duck." He added, "Seeing Kim Jo-won's lingering exit, it seems the president's authority is not properly established within the Blue House."

Independent lawmaker Hong Joon-pyo strongly criticized on his Facebook the same day, saying, "I had already predicted that the Moon administration would collapse due to a real estate riot in September, but the collapse seems to be coming sooner. The Blue House has suffered a fatal blow and is staggering, and the cabinet is also playing a major role in ruining the country."

However, the ruling Democratic Party dismissed the lame duck claims as premature. On the 12th, Democratic Party spokesperson Heo Yoon-jung, when asked about the opposition's lame duck signs at a National Assembly press conference, said, "It does not seem like a situation to raise such issues yet."

She added, "There is no sign of a power struggle or disagreement between the party and the Blue House. Although such talk arises regarding Blue House personnel matters, we do not perceive it that way."

Jeong Cheong-rae, Democratic Party of Korea / Photo by Yonhap News

Democratic Party lawmaker Jung Chung-rae appeared on KBS's 'Sasa Geongeon' on the same day and pointed out, "Currently (Q4 of the third year), President Moon's approval rating is 46%, while four years ago at this time, former President Park Geun-hye's approval rating was 43%. This was the peak of Park's second half in office, but Moon's rating is 3% higher."

He continued, "President Moon has never dropped below 43%. At that time, Park's approval rating was called 'concrete support,' so do people claim that was a sign of a lame duck?"

Han Byung-do, a former second Senior Secretary for Political Affairs in the Moon administration and a candidate for Supreme Council member, said in an interview on YTN Radio's 'Starting a New Morning' on the 11th, "A lame duck refers to difficulties in pushing forward work, organizational division, and people leaving. Since 176 seats were secured in the general election, there should be no difficulty in advancing government tasks."

He emphasized, "Some real estate issues or others are individual problems. Since they do not affect the organization as a whole, there is no difficulty in pursuing government agendas."

Meanwhile, a party support poll on the 13th showed that for the first time since the October 2016 impeachment of former President Park, conservative parties have surpassed the Democratic Party in support.

According to a weekday survey conducted by Realmeter on 1,507 adults nationwide from the 10th to 12th commissioned by TBS, the Democratic Party's support rate dropped 1.7 percentage points from the previous week to 33.4%, while the United Party rose 1.9 percentage points to 36.5%.

President Moon's job approval rating also fell 0.6 percentage points from the previous week to 43.3%. Negative evaluations rose 0.1 percentage points to 52.5%, maintaining a 'dead cross' phenomenon where negative ratings have surpassed positive ratings for three consecutive weeks.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.