Presidential nominee Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea picked close-mindedness and lack of efforts toward political integration as the reasons behind what brought criticism toward the incumbent Moon Jae-in administration.

But he insisted that the Moon government was not entirely a failure in itself, seemingly expressing partial support for the administration associated with his own party.

The response was made to a question from Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party during a televised debate that aired Friday night. Lee spoke about what he believed was the reason the Moon administration's personnel appointments had caused such controversy.

Lee said the Moon administration resorted to hiring officials within friendly factions after assuming power, which limited Moon’s options on who to choose for key ministerial and secretarial posts.

The Moon administration has often faced criticism for nominating figures with conflicts of interest or a history of one of the "five major corruptive misdeeds," Moon had outlined before taking office in a pledge to avoid undesirable appointments.

Lee said his government would be different, as his administration pursues political integration by making nominations for key ministerial and secretarial posts beyond party or ideological allegiance.