Deliver public opinion to your boss accurately

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday appointed Chung Jin-suk, a five-term lawmaker of the People Power Party (PPP), as his new chief of staff. Announcing his decision before cameras, the president expressed his hope that Chung will carry out his new role smoothly thanks to his amicable relations with members of both the PPP and the majority Democratic Party (DP). A few hours later, the president himself announced the appointment of Hong Chul-ho, a former two-term lawmaker, as his senior secretary for political affairs. The two appointments were apparently aimed at bolstering communications and political functions of the presidential office after the PPP’s landslide defeat in the April 10 parliamentary elections.

Chung, a former journalist, served as vice speaker of the National Assembly. He was defeated by a DP candidate in his constituency in South Chungcheong in the last election, but emerged as the third chief of staff to the president. Chung and Yoon are the same age.

When the PPP faced an internal crisis from former leader Lee Jun-seok, a provocative thirtysomething politician, Chung took up his new role as interim leader of the embattled party and changed the conservative party’s convention rules to only counting party members’ votes when they elect a new leader. Citing such backgrounds, the opposition criticized Chung’s appointment for “going against public sentiment.” The PPP countered that his appointment reflected the president’s determination to listen to various voices in society. But PPP lawmakers not close to the president attacked Chung’s rule change for helping the president privatize the governing party.

The new chief of staff must humbly accept complaints about the president and deliver them frankly to his boss. The PPP’s election loss owed much to the botched relay of public opinion to the president. As Yoon’s chief of staff, Chung must deliver bitter advice to the commander in chief. The new chief of staff must end the archaic practice of demonstrating blind loyalty to the president.

In a rare move, President Yoon had a Q&A session with reporters and promised to listen to what DP leader Lee Jae-myung would say in their first-ever face-to-face meeting since his election as president. We welcome the president’s plan to meet with the press more often from now.

The upcoming meeting between the president and the DP leader will serve as a barometer of whether Yoon’s latest appointments will be successful or not. But both parties had to cancel their working-level talks over the meeting due to the president’s unexpected announcement. We hope Chung and Hong faithfully relay public opinion to their boss.