Cheong Wa Dae Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom Resigns Amid Worsening Public Sentiment

[Anchor]

Cheong Wa Dae Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom has abruptly resigned. Following recent cabinet reshuffles including the replacement of economic ministry heads, the departure of Kim, the chief of policy command, has sparked forecasts that changes may occur in the government's policy stance.

Reporter Kang Min-u has the details.

[Reporter]

Cheong Wa Dae held an unscheduled briefing this morning (Sept. 1) to announce the resignation of Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom.

[Kang Yu-jung / Cheong Wa Dae Senior Spokesperson: Cheong Wa Dae Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom expressed his intention to resign yesterday, August 31st. In response, President Lee Jae-myung accepted his resignation today, September 1st.]

This comes about one year and three months after he was appointed as the first policy chief of the President Lee Jae-myung administration in June of last year.

Chief Kim has led various policy pending issues, including real estate policies, the formulation of tax system revisions, the introduction of single-stock leverage exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and three major mega-projects.

The opposition bloc has demanded Kim's resignation, claiming that he was responsible for the recent real estate market confusion and sharp stock price fluctuations.

President Lee replaced economic ministry heads such as the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport the day before yesterday, leading to interpretations that he intended to retain Kim to maintain policy stability. However, as the downward trend in approval ratings continued, with President Lee's state administration evaluation falling for seven consecutive weeks in various public opinion polls to drop below 40 percent, it appears that the decision was made to replace the policy chief.

Following the recent cabinet reshuffle, the departure of Cheong Wa Dae's policy chief has also led to forecasts that there will be changes in the policy stance of the Lee Jae-myung administration.

(Video by Ha Ryung and Yoon Hyung, Video Editing by Won Hyung-hee)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.