Since the June 3 local elections, President Lee Jae-myung has repeatedly stressed his will to get to work. While on a tour of Europe, Lee posted on X (formerly Twitter) on June 10 an article noting that his approval rating had fallen 9.4 percentage points from before the election, and said, "I will embrace more and work harder." At a press conference marking his first year in office on June 8, he said, "I really intend to sprint with all my might within the given environment." At a senior secretaries' meeting at the presidential office on June 4, the day after the election, he said, "I will gather the hearts of all citizens and devote all my strength to advancing people's lives and the development of the Republic of Korea."
Can Lee's will to work be said to have gained momentum from the ruling party's victory in 12 of 16 metropolitan mayoral and gubernatorial races in this election? What is clear is that it falls short compared with 2018, when the Democratic Party of Korea all but swept 14 metropolitan posts, including Seoul. In addition, Lee's job approval rating, released by polling agency Realmeter two days before the election, stood at 59.1%, below the 74.4% recorded by former President Moon Jae-in two days before the June 13, 2018 local elections. While Lee, like former President Moon, held local elections in his second year in office, he falls short of eight years ago in both election results and job performance assessments.
Eight years ago, despite his high popularity, former President Moon's policy achievements were dismal. He poured out many regulations vowing to curb real estate speculation, but home prices soared to unprecedented levels. His hasty nuclear phase-out policy damaged the domestic nuclear power ecosystem and nearly dealt an irreparable blow to Korean industry as a whole in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Far from pursuing labor flexibility reforms for sustainable economic development, he clung to a pro-labor drive that squeezed businesses, and never touched structural reforms such as education and pensions. In the end, public sentiment turned coldly against him, and the Democratic Party administration was judged in the presidential election.
Fortunately, Lee appears to have a strong will to rebound the potential growth rate through structural reform. This is evident from the fact that at a senior secretaries' meeting last November, he declared his will to pursue structural reform in six key areas—regulation, finance, public sector, pensions, education and labor—saying, "We must open a new path to growth." He also clearly pledged to make this year, his second in office, "the starting point for a great national transformation of the Republic of Korea through full-fledged structural reform." It is now time to embark on labor reform to increase employment flexibility, pension reform to enhance pension sustainability, and public reform to streamline the public sector.
However, there is concern that it will not be easy to secure momentum for structural reform given the uneasy victory in this election. Looking back, one wonders whether a "red team" that offers harsh advice truly exists within the presidential office and the cabinet. Had there been a red team, it would have properly understood and been able to respond to the public's resistance to the government's real estate policy—which was the cause of painful defeats in battleground areas such as the Seoul mayoral race—and the public's antipathy toward the "fabricated indictment special counsel act" pushed by the ruling party. Yet the party and government continued to downplay the resistance to the real estate problem and the cancellation of prosecution, which had already spread widely, and unlike the local elections eight years ago, could not avoid a bitter taste. Even now, the red team must be reorganized to bring together the divided public sentiment from this election and raise the momentum for reform. To do so, Lee's mindset must change. Just as he did in November 2024 when, as Democratic Party leader, he appointed a special adviser group, he should form a team within the presidential office and the cabinet that he can ask to "play the role of a red team as its primary responsibility."
For successful structural reform, there is a lesson worth chewing over in this election result. The fact is that the side that united more desperately than its opponent and focused on the contest won, and the side that did not lost. As with all worldly affairs, unity is important in the hegemony competition over advanced strategic industries such as AI and semiconductors among major powers. The United States, Japan and China are staking their futures on nurturing their own companies. It is time for us, too—the nation and its people, the government and the private sector, businesses and workers—to unite as one and strengthen the economy's growth capacity through bold structural reform. In that respect, the remaining four years given to Lee are important. For our country to become an industrial powerhouse with a decisive lead, we must swiftly and boldly improve the obstacles that hinder competitiveness enhancement and concentrate our capabilities on key future strategic industries. American writer Mark Twain said, "The secret of getting ahead is getting started." The structural reform essential for us to rebound the potential growth rate and get ahead of competitor nations is best begun as early as possible.
