Blue House: "Kim Yongbum's Resignation Aimed at Ensuring Smooth Policy Execution" (Comprehensive)

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Calls for Kim Yongbum’s Resignation Emerge fr

Policy Chief Kim Yongbum of the Blue House resigned just two days after President Lee Jaemyung’s mid-scale cabinet reshuffle. Kim resigned after 453 days in office. As the so-called “Kim Yongbum accountability debate,” sparked by controversy over single-asset leverage exchange traded funds (ETF) and real estate policy, showed signs of weakening the administration's momentum, some interpreted his resignation as the policy chief stepping down for those reasons. There are also signs of partial changes to the government’s overall policy direction, including tax reform proposals.

Kang Yujeong, Senior Spokesperson of the Blue House, held an unscheduled briefing at Chunchugwan on the morning of September 1 and announced, “Policy Chief Kim expressed his intention to resign on August 31,” and “President Lee accepted the resignation today, September 1.” Kim is reported to have delivered farewell remarks at an internal Blue House meeting that morning. However, Kim did not appear at the live broadcast of the cabinet meeting that day.

Policy Chief Kim Yongbum Resigned. Kang Yujeong, Senior Spokesperson of the Blue House, stated in a briefing on the 1st, "Mr. Kim submitted his resignation the previous day, and President Lee accepted it today." The photo shows Policy Chief Kim Yongbum speaking at the Cabinet meeting held on August 25. 2026.9.1 Yonhap News Agency. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Inside and outside the Blue House, there is speculation that mounting calls for Kim to take responsibility led to his resignation. A ruling party official said, “Kim must have felt uneasy about the growing calls for his dismissal.” However, a Blue House official explained, “The average tenure for Blue House aides is between six months and one year and two months,” and, “The aides are changed in order to maintain policy momentum.” This effectively dismissed the notion that Kim was dismissed against his will.

Kim’s resignation appears to have been abrupt. Until recently, the Blue House had maintained its position not to replace him, and Kim kept his post even during the cabinet reshuffle two days ago. Replacing Kim could have been seen as acknowledging policy failure by the opposition. However, as approval ratings continued to fall to the 30% range—the lowest yet—even after the reshuffle, and with no signs of a rebound, it is analyzed that Kim, as the policy chief, ultimately took responsibility and stepped down.

The opposition had long demanded Kim’s dismissal, citing financial market disruption caused by leverage ETFs and instability in the real estate market. Jeong Jeomsik, floor leader of the People Power Party, the day before Kim’s resignation was revealed, argued for his dismissal, citing instability in stocks, real estate, and inflation. On August 31, Jang Donghyuk, the party leader, also criticized Kim’s continued tenure, stating, “He should be entirely replaced with someone who aligns with the public will.”

Recently, even within the pro-government camp, voices had arisen demanding Kim take responsibility. Cho Kuk, head of the Policy Innovation Research Center of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, strongly criticized leverage ETFs as a “clear policy failure” on his Facebook page on August 5. Cho argued, “The current situation is a failure of government-led finance created by the core of the government’s policy team, including the Blue House Policy Office, the Office for Government Policy Coordination, Financial Services Commission, and the Financial Supervisory Service, with Kim at the forefront,” asserting that Kim should take responsibility.

In particular, there has been fierce debate over the extent to which the Blue House Policy Office was involved in the issue of leverage ETFs. Allegations surfaced that Kim virtually instructed financial authorities to review introducing the products, leading to accusations of abuse of authority. While the allegations were not substantiated, the opposition has continued to cite this as an example of excessive market intervention by the Policy Office and to hold Kim accountable.

The Blue House provided only a basic statement regarding Kim's successor. A Blue House official stated, “Since this personnel reshuffle is a measure to revitalize and accelerate policy, we plan to proceed with additional appointments so that there is no disruption in state affairs,” and added, “With the Chief Presidential Secretary and each senior secretary performing their roles diligently, work will continue without gaps until the new appointment is made.”

Meanwhile, there are expectations that Kim’s resignation could lead to changes in government policy, particularly in real estate. The government withdrew its original revision to lower the basic deduction for the comprehensive real estate holding tax for non-residential, single-home owners from 1.2 billion won to 900 million won. The Ministry of Economy and Finance had originally planned to submit the government bill (lowering the threshold to 900 million won) at the cabinet meeting that day, but reportedly changed course and submitted a revised plan for review and approval.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.