President Lee to engage in public communication this week··· seeking a turnaround amid the ① appointments ② troop dispatch ③ cancellation of indictments ‘three-way swell’

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President Lee Jae Myung takes his seat to preside over a senior aides meeting at the Blue House on the 11th. Lee Jun-heon

President Lee Jae Myung will reach out to the public this week. With his job approval falling into the 30% range and hitting a post-inauguration low, he is set to hold a press conference for the first time in about 100 days. Confronted with the three-way swell of appointments, a dispatch to the Strait of Hormuz, and cancellation of indictments and a consecutive-terms amendment, President Lee is expected to state his positions directly on key issues to steady public sentiment and seek a turnaround.

According to the Blue House on the 13th, President Lee is considering holding a press conference this week as a means of communicating with the public. The period immediately after the Korea-Central Asia summit to be held in Seoul on the 16th is the leading option. If the press conference materializes, it will be the first in just over 100 days since the June 8 first-anniversary press conference. The move is seen as reflecting a judgment that a catalyst is needed to rebound approval ratings that have been setting new lows day after day.

The most formidable obstacle has become the appointments of cabinet ministers. A reshuffle pursued to refresh the administration’s tone after defeat in the June 3 local elections for Seoul mayor has instead turned into a liability. While Minister of Gender Equality and Family nominee Yong Hye-in resigned that day after controversy over holding both a proportional-representation seat and a cabinet post, controversy surrounding Minister of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won continues. In addition to being embroiled in allegations of lobbying for a new drug approval by the pharmaceutical company Genencell, it also emerged that in 2024 he hired as a legislative aide in his parliamentary office the son of the judge who dismissed an arrest warrant for Genencell’s CEO, placing him at the center of the storm.

There are also critiques that the ruling party leadership is being complacent about nominee Kim. In a Gallup Korea poll of 1,000 voters conducted from the 8∼10, responses that nominee Kim was ‘not suitable’ stood at 43%, nearly double those saying ‘suitable’ (22%). Nevertheless, Democratic Party of Korea leader Kim Min-seok said on the 11th of nominee Kim, “The more we see, the more it looks like a good appointment.”

Concerns have been raised that the ruling party’s stance of giving up nominee Yong while defending nominee Kim could weigh on President Lee’s approval ratings. A Democratic Party lawmaker said, “Kim maintains there was no illegal conduct, but the party and the Blue House must not be out of step with the public.” President Lee is expected to decide whether to withdraw the nomination after watching nominee Kim’s confirmation hearing scheduled for the 15th.

President Lee’s deliberations over a troop dispatch to the Strait of Hormuz are also deepening. U.S. President Donald Trump has, five times in the past month, cited South Korea’s failure to join the war with Iran and is pressuring for a dispatch. Given the recent deterioration in KoreaU.S. relations, it is difficult to simply ignore Washington’s request.

It also carries substantial risk to decide hastily on a dispatch. Major countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and Japan are keeping their distance from participation, and the possibility of Iranian retaliation cannot be ruled out. In the worst case, Korean vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz or Korean troops could come under Iranian attack. In the course of seeking parliamentary approval for a dispatch plan, infighting within the ruling camp could accelerate.

Some also argue that the tangible benefits of a dispatch are unclear. Choi Jong-kun, a Yonsei University professor who served as Vice Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the Moon Jae-in administration, wrote on Facebook on the 11th, “Securing nuclear-powered submarine fuel and revising the nuclear agreement are not doors that open through a troop dispatch.” Military expert Kim Jong-dae, a former Justice Party lawmaker, wrote on Facebook on the 6th, “Trump would instead say, ‘Why is this all you can manage?’ and send another bill.”

The Blue House is maintaining a cautious stance. A Blue House official said, “We will flesh out ways to contribute to the Strait of Hormuz based on the national interest and public consensus.” Seong Ki-hong, the Blue House senior secretary for public communication, also said on the 10th, “If not a dispatch option, there could be technical support.” How far to accede to the U.S. request remains for the president to decide.

The controversies over cancelling indictments and a constitutional amendment for consecutive terms are likewise issues on which the president is expected to state his position directly. A test case is whether to delete the clause on cancellation of indictments from the special counsel bill on fabricated indictments submitted to the National Assembly. The People Power Party argues that the president is pushing the special counsel bill to cancel the prosecutions in cases where he has been indicted.

Attention also focuses on whether President Lee will state his position on a consecutive-terms amendment more clearly. On the 9th (local time) in Paris, France, he obliquely addressed the debate by saying, “My term is clearly limited under the Constitution.” The Blue House explained this as meaning he would not seek consecutive terms, but some in political circles say the president himself should declare that he will not seek another term to put a period to the controversy.

Yoo Seung-chan, CEO of Storydot, said, “With the 40% support line broken, public opinion is demanding a shift in governing direction,” adding, “A clear statement by the president on the issues of cancelling indictments and a consecutive-terms amendment would mark the start of a policy course correction.”

The Gallup Korea survey was conducted via telephone interviews using 100% randomly generated mobile virtual numbers, with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level and a response rate of 9.4%. For details, refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.