Harmony or isolation? It depends on Moon
The harsh reality faced by President Moon Jae-in in domestic politics is that his Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is 30 seats short of a majority in the 299-member National Assembly.
This means the DPK has no choice but to seek cooperation from minor parties to push its reform agenda through.
What makes this task more challenging is the deepened chasm between the DPK and the center-left People’s Party during the presidential race.
Reflecting this reality, Moon repeated his promises for “cooperative politics” during the campaign and through election day.
“After the election, we should be one again. I will try my best to embrace the other candidates and their parties so we are engaged in cooperative politics,” Moon told reporters after casting his vote on Tuesday morning. “I hope the people also work on achieving national unity.”
One of his immediate tasks is to name his Cabinet members. Their smooth appointments are the key to putting the new administration on track, especially when there is no transition period.
Restructuring of government ministries should also be done as early as possible otherwise the administration could easily lose momentum, commentators say.
The previous Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye governments failed to complete filling of their cabinets in a timely manner after the election. It took them an additional 32 and 52 days, respectively, to complete the process in the face of the opposition’s resistance.
Moon previously said, if elected, he would minimize the restructuring of ministries to avoid a prolonged tussle with the National Assembly. Even still, seeking cooperation from opposition parties will be a priority to fill in the administra- tive vacuum.
“Tapping figures from either side of the ideological blocs as new ministers can be a good start to work with the Assembly in a state of the opposition commanding a majority,” said Kim Hyung-joon, a professor of political science at Myongji University.
Moon, a politician from Yeongnam, or the eastern Gyeongsang provinces, said earlier that he would like to appoint a person from out- side of his region as prime minister for the sake of regional balance. Aware of the looming challenge against the opposition, he has stressed he would stick to the principle of national unity in appointing his personnel.
The DPK currently holds 120 parliamentary seats of the 299-member Assembly. Moon is expected to meet stiff resistance from the former ruling Liberty Korea Party, which grew bigger to have 107 seats recently with defectors from the party Bareun Party.
Given that an approval of a majority of Assemblymen is needed for the endorsement of the prime minister, Moon’s priority counterpart is expected to be Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party. The third-largest party now holds 40 seats.
It is not just limited to the case of getting the new administration going. During the upcoming five-year presidential term, Ahn’s support is a prerequisite to enact Moon’s domestic reform agenda.
He wants to increase the number of jobs in the public sector to ease high unemployment, increase state spending, improve education and welfare protection for the deprived, and push for a rise in taxes for those with high incomes.
He earlier vowed to have a supplementary budget drafted once the new government is in place though he did not specify its amount.
It will be possible for Moon to bring up the idea of sharing Cabinet posts with minor parties to attract their support in pushing for his administrative agenda.