President Lee needs urgent reset amid falling approval and unresolved debates
A president can survive a bad poll when its causes are isolated. Yet President Lee Jae Myung now faces a broader political problem: His approval rating has fallen to 38 percent, according to a Gallup Korea poll released Friday, slipping below the 40 percent threshold for the first time since he took office in June 2025.
The causes are converging across issues the administration has so far handled poorly. The poll shows that Lee’s Cabinet nominations have become key liabilities. In addition, the government has yet to settle a contentious decision over the Strait of Hormuz.
Constitutional reform also remains clouded by questions about presidential term limits. Real estate policy was another reason for negative evaluations.
The personnel problems expose a weakness deeper than the reputations of individual nominees.
Rep. Yong Hye-in, the sole lawmaker of the minor Basic Income Party, was nominated to head the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. She faced strong criticism over her intention to retain her proportional representation seat after joining the Cabinet, as well as allegations involving nepotism and party funding.
Her argument that the law permits lawmakers to serve concurrently with Cabinet posts did little to answer a basic question of public fairness.
On Sunday, Yong announced her withdrawal as the political cost became undeniable, with 61 percent of Gallup poll respondents judging her nomination negatively against just 13 percent positively.
The episode suggests that the administration’s vetting process is failing a basic task: anticipating how technically defensible arrangements will look to ordinary voters.
Kim Seung-won, Lee’s nominee for justice minister, faces a different test. The two-term lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea has apologized for causing public concern over allegations he sought action from the Food and Drug Safety Ministry in 2021 concerning approval procedures for a COVID-19 treatment.
He maintained that his intervention was a public-interest petition. His parliamentary confirmation hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
The justice minister must have enough public credibility to oversee an institution whose authority depends heavily on confidence in its standards. A governing party that treats every questionable nomination as a battle to be won could squander political capital defending problem-laden candidates.
The same credibility problem extends beyond Cabinet appointments.
A decision to deploy naval forces to the Strait of Hormuz involves alliance considerations, the safety of Korean personnel, relations with Iran and the country's energy security. Lee should explain the principles that will determine the decision rather than let uncertainty become another source of partisan conflict.
Constitutional reform requires similar clarity. Debate over a four-year, two-term presidency will inevitably raise the question of whether the incumbent could benefit from the change. If the reform is intended to reshape future presidencies, Lee should make his position on its application to his own tenure unmistakable.
Lee’s declining approval rating warns that room for error is shrinking. Economic and housing concerns are already weighing on public sentiment, while declining support among moderates and younger voters reduces the administration's political cushion.
Lee has an opportunity to reset the terms of his presidency. That means tougher standards before nominations are announced, clearer explanations for critical national-security decisions and an unambiguous position on constitutional reform.
Public trust is finite. Once consumed by personnel disputes and policy missteps, it leaves less of the political capital required for the difficult work ahead.
A president's room for error is measured partly by how much trust remains when mistakes arrive. Lee's weakening approval shows that the reserve is already thinning. The next test is whether he treats the warning as a reason to sharpen his judgment before another misjudgment further narrows that room.
khnews@heraldcorp.com
