On December 4, South Korean polling agency Gallup released a survey survey, showing that the current President Moon Jae-in’s favorable approval rating for his governance was 39%, down 1 percentage point from last week and the lowest since taking office. On the same day, Moon Jae-in announced a small cabinet reorganization and a replacement of four department heads, including the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
According to Yonhap News Agency on December 4, Gallup surveyed 1,000 people over the age of 18 in South Korea from 1 to 3 of that month. The results show that Moon Jae-in’s favorable evaluation rate for governance fell to 39%. The negative rating is 51%, up 3 percentage points from last week.
According to the report, among the reasons why Moon Jae-in was poorly criticized, “real estate policy” accounted for 22%, and “legal inspection contradictions” and “overall poor performance” accounted for 9% each.
It is also reported that Moon Jae-in announced the reorganization of the cabinet on December 4 to replace four ministers, namely, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Administration and Security, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Women’s Family.
The analysis pointed out that the change of the Minister of Land and Transport was related to the weak regulation of the real estate market. Senior officials from Qingwatai said that the current minister Kim Hyun-mi was not “removed” and that the change of minister was to adapt to the needs of the new policy and implement more practical policies.
The proposed Minister of Land and Transport, Ti Zhangqin, is the president of the Korean Land and Housing Commune (Note: the agency responsible for land development and housing construction and management).
He graduated from the Department of Economics of Seoul University. He has served as a professor in the Department of Administration of Sejong University, the president of Seoul Residential Metropolitan Commune, and a member of the National Commission for Balanced Development.
Yonhap pointed out that this is the second time that Moon Jae-in has changed multiple department heads at the same time since last September. It is believed that considering factors such as the 2022 general election and important political schedule, Moon Jae-in may reshuffle the cabinet again early next year, when the stay of Law Minister Aki Mia will receive attention.
On November 24, Qiu Meiai, in her capacity as Minister of Justice, announced the suspension of Attorney General Yin Xiyue and demanded that he be punished. This is the first time in South Korea’s history that the Attorney General has been suspended from office by the Minister of Justice.
On December 1, a South Korean court announced that it would suspend the effect of Yoon Seok-yue’s suspension, so Yoon Seok-yue returned to his post. According to the source, the contradiction between the forensic inspection caused Moon Jae-in and Qiu Mei-ai to interview.
