One year in, Lee's 'president for all' vow draws a split verdict

President Lee Jae Myung opened his term a year ago with a promise to govern as a "president for all." His first nationwide election test suggests not everyone is convinced he has kept it. The June 3 local elections came as his first major test, and not everyone is convinced that he has kept to his word. 

The ruling Democratic Party won 12 of the 16 metropolitan mayoral and gubernatorial races that were up for grabs, but lost Seoul to the conservative People Power Party, leaving it with a 12-to-4 scorecard that blended support with restraint.

A year into his presidency, analysts credit Lee with symbolic efforts toward unity, pragmatism and communication while saying he has yet to deliver the "restoration of politics" he set as a goal.

High scores on national unity 

On national unity, a theme Lee has returned to repeatedly, he won points for widening contact with the opposition. He lunched with party leaders on his first day in office, held three more rounds of talks with them and, after his April policy address to the National Assembly, was seen extending his hand first to opposition lawmakers.

"I'd give high marks for the way he moved across party lines to meet so many citizens," Park Won-ho, a professor of political science at Seoul National University, said. "Whether that effort reached as far as uniting conservative and progressive voters, though, is doubtful."

His pragmatic streak in appointments showed again Sunday, when he named Han Seong-sook, a woman and former Naver CEO who heads the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, as his pick for prime minister.

Other picks from earlier on in his office drew warm reviews too. Two came from the corporate world: Kim Jung-kwan at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources and Chae Hwi-young at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Three came from the conservative camp: Kwon Oh-eul at the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs; Lee Seog-yeon, who chairs the Presidential Committee of National Cohesion; and Kim Sung-sik, vice chairman of the National Economic Advisory Council.

"[President Lee] has drawn widely on experts from outside politics and politicians from the conservative camp," Park Sun-kyoung, a Global Korean Studies professor at Korea University, said. "It is three birds with one stone: the case for political unity, administrative efficiency and a wider pool of future appointees."

Open communication, albeit controversial

Communication was another priority for Lee. A day before last year's presidential election, Lee said, "The more we expand chances to speak directly with the public, the better." His first-year tally bears that out.

He carried roughly 154 hours of news conferences, cabinet meetings, work briefings and roundtables on live broadcast. The Blue House says he traveled 22,929 kilometers (14,247 miles) inside the country over the year, more than halfway around the globe. Town hall meetings drew some 3,500 residents across 14 cities and provinces.

"It gave the public a chance to speak directly to the president and became an occasion for officials to listen to people's voices," Han Jeong-hun, an International Studies professor at Seoul National University, said.

President Lee's online tone, however, drew unease. On the eve of Wednesday's election, Lee asked in a social media post, "Have you voted so as not to be ruled by the lowest quality of men?"

"The volume of communication has grown, but the president's messages are rough and overly political," said Kim Hyung-joon, a political science professor at Pai Chai University.

Constitutional revision, which Lee billed as the top item on his agenda, drew the harshest marks, with critics saying he had done "nothing of substance."

"He should show the wisdom to pursue it in a year without elections, such as the second year of his term," Shin Yul, a Political Science professor at Myongji University, said.

Lee's pledge of a "horizontal" relationship between his party and the government remains contested. Friction between the president and Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae split observers: some saw a ruling party asserting its independence, while others read it as a sign the relationship is still top-down.

OH HYUN-SEOK [[email protected]]