President Lee Jae-myung decided not to allow Chairperson Lee Jin-sook of the Korea Communications Commission to attend the Cabinet meeting on the 9th, according to the presidential office. This action was taken due to the chairperson's violations of the obligation of neutrality for public officials, including posting political opinions on personal social media and disclosing the contents of private Cabinet meetings. The chairperson may attend the meetings if requested by the president, who is the chair of the Cabinet meeting, and can speak with presidential permission but does not have the authority to vote on agenda items.
Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said at a briefing that day, "Starting from next week's Cabinet meeting, the incumbent chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission (Lee Jin-sook) will not attend the Cabinet meetings." Kang noted, "Recently, the Board of Audit and Inspection judged that the current chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission violated the National Public Service Act by making politically biased statements," adding, "Nevertheless, Chairperson Lee Jin-sook has continuously expressed her political stance at Cabinet meetings and has posted political opinions on her personal social media, repeatedly violating the obligation of political neutrality for public officials."
This measure was finalized after Chief of Staff Kang Hoon suggested to President Lee in the morning that "Chairperson Lee's attendance at the Cabinet meeting is inappropriate." In fact, according to the regulations for the Cabinet meeting, those explicitly allowed to attend include the Chief of Staff, the Director of the National Security Office, the Chief Policy Officer of the Presidential Office, the Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the Minister of Personnel Management, the Minister of Legislation, the Commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the Chairperson of the Fair Trade Commission, the Chairperson of the Financial Services Commission, the Head of the Science and Technology Innovation Headquarters, the Head of the Trade Negotiation Headquarters, and the Mayor of Seoul. This means that the chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission must comply if the president orders them not to attend.
Since the launch of the Lee Jae-myung government, the chairperson has had several conflicts with the presidential office and the ruling party. During the Cabinet meeting on the 8th, she insisted on her position, despite President Lee's attempts to dissuade her, and received a reprimand from the president for using undisclosed meeting content for personal political purposes. She claimed at the time when appearing before the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee that she received an instruction from President Lee Jae-myung to "create a proposal for the broadcasting three laws," but the presidential office stated, "It was not an instruction but rather a request for an opinion." This implies that the chairperson misinterpreted the president's comments to benefit herself.
Spokesperson Kang stated, "The Cabinet meeting is a place with a significant responsibility to discuss national affairs," adding that "using quotes or topics from closed meetings outside of the official briefing by the presidential office spokesperson in articles or distorting them for political purposes is an inappropriate breach of public office discipline." She further stated, "The same principles apply equally to other Cabinet members and attendees of the Cabinet meetings."