"Just because people who like the color blue hold power, they cannot paint the entire society blue. Nor does the color red lose its qualification as a member of the community." (Cabinet meeting, Dec. 30, 2025)
These remarks, made by President Lee Jae-myung at a cabinet meeting last year, best illustrate the personnel philosophy of the Lee Jae-myung administration. The moment one becomes president, one must be a "president for everyone" rather than a representative of a particular faction — a reaffirmation of the pragmatic, faction-transcending personnel principle that prioritizes competence and results over political color.
Indeed, since taking office, President Lee has consistently attempted integrative appointments regardless of conservative or progressive leanings. He retained Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Song Mi-ryung, who was appointed under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, and tapped Kwon O-eul, a three-term lawmaker from the former Grand National Party, as Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs. Kim Sung-sik, vice chairman of the National Economic Advisory Council, and Heo Eun-a, national integration secretary, are also cases of appointments that crossed factional lines.
Song Mi-ryung, Kwon O-eul, Kim Sung-sik, Heo Eun-a… Integration Appointments on Course
Then, early this year, integrative personnel began to falter with the withdrawal of Lee Hye-hoon as a candidate for Minister of the Planning and Budget Office. Early in the administration, Kang Jun-uk, national integration secretary at the presidential office, resigned within a week of his appointment after it emerged that his past book had defended the Dec. 3 martial law. More recently, Lee Byung-tae, former vice chairman of the Regulatory Rationalization Committee, stepped down after remarking that "the May 18 uprising has become sacrosanct."
With writer Rhyu Si-min's so-called "reconstruction theory" also emerging, skepticism toward integrative personnel itself grew among some in the ruling camp. In political circles, some assessed that "integrative personnel is indeed difficult" or that "pragmatic personnel has failed."
Kang Jun-uk, Lee Hye-hoon, Lee Byung-tae… Appointments That Poured Cold Water on Integration
But considering the success stories together, it is difficult to conclude that integrative personnel itself has failed.
Minister Song Mi-ryung was retained even after the change of government, recognized for her expertise and policy continuity, and is performing her role stably. Minister Kwon O-eul, too, is drawing more attention for his role as the minister responsible for veterans affairs administration than for his background as a conservative politician. Secretary Heo Eun-a is likewise focusing on her role of national integration, keeping her distance from political controversy.
Their common trait is clear: since entering public office, they focused on carrying out their assigned duties rather than putting their political identities forward.
The Line Between Success and Failure… The Identity of the Politically Charged "Pundit"
By contrast, the failed cases showed a different pattern.
What Lee Byung-tae and Kang Jun-uk had in common was not their conservative leanings, but that even after entering public office, they failed to shed their identities as political pundits.
Lee Byung-tae was an economist and regulatory reform expert, but through social media and press interviews he continued to voice strong opinions on political and social issues, ultimately becoming more strongly branded as a political pundit than as a regulatory expert.
Above all, public officials must share the goal of using all these materials to erect a building — whether an extension, reconstruction or redevelopment. There are still more success stories than to conclude that integrative personnel has failed. The work of broadly appointing people who share a basic consensus and sense of responsibility toward the community, democracy and the constitutional order, and who are strong in self-restraint, must continue.
Kang Jun-uk, too, contrary to his post of national integration, revealed strong political positions on martial law and the constitutional order through his book, and was ousted as his personal ideological identity stood out ahead of his public duties.
The case of former candidate Lee Hye-hoon differs in character from controversies over historical perception or political remarks, but the symbolism of appointing an active conservative politician was consumed ahead of her economic expertise and policy capacity. In one respect, she began as a symbol of integrative personnel and ended as a burden to it.
In the end, what separated success from failure was not the question of conservative versus progressive. The decisive difference lay in whether, after becoming a public official, one remained a pundit representing a political position, or accepted the responsibility and restraint of a public official.
The more a politician reveals their color and assertions, the greater their presence. A public official, by contrast, is evaluated when they realize their assigned duties and the government's governing philosophy rather than their political identity. As we have seen, the success stories were evaluated by their capacity for public service and policy results rather than by their political backgrounds.
Conversely, in the failed cases, political self-expression stood out ahead of the role of a public official. Through social media activity, public remarks and press interviews, they actively expressed personal opinions on social issues, and as a result the public could not help but perceive them as political pundits rather than policy officials.
"Restraint and a Sense of Responsibility" as Public Officials… The Fate of Integration Appointments
Ultimately, the criterion that determines the success or failure of the Lee Jae-myung administration's integrative personnel is not conservative versus progressive. What matters more is whether there is consensus on the basic values of the community — democracy and the constitutional order — whether there is self-restraint and a sense of responsibility as a public official, and whether one can prioritize one's assigned duties over one's political identity.
The more political polarization deepens, the greater the need for integrative personnel becomes. What is needed, therefore, is to refine the formula for successful integrative personnel. As President Lee always emphasized, "cement, gravel, sand and water must be mixed together to become concrete."
