Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo spent the weekend receiving briefings on pending policy issues from his aides in preparation for a parliamentary interpellation session that starts Wednesday.

Embattled by allegations of ethical lapses during the parliamentary confirmation process, Lee has vowed since taking office a week ago to make up for his disgrace by performing his job well.

It seems, however, that Lee should first take steps to disperse public doubts about whether his Cabinet is really prepared to tackle the thorny reform tasks facing the nation.

In her partial reshuffle of the Cabinet last week, President Park Geun-hye named two lawmakers from her ruling Saenuri Party as transportation and maritime affairs ministers. Her move increased the number of Saenuri legislators with posts in the 18-member Cabinet to six, including Lee, who served as the ruling party floor leader until he was nominated as prime minister last month.

This composition of the Cabinet may be understood as reflecting Park’s intent to strengthen her grip on state affairs and galvanize consultations between the administration and the ruling party.

What worries the public, however, is the likelihood that most of the Saenuri lawmakers in the Cabinet will quit their ministerial posts early next year to run in the 2016 general election. Under the law, Cabinet members and other officeholders are required to resign at least three months before an election they intend to run in.

Some commentators expect the Saenuri lawmakers in the Cabinet to actively push for policy agenda to achieve some things that would increase their prospects of reelection. But this view seems too optimistic. It may be more realistic to expect that, with their sights set on the parliamentary elections, they will sit on the fence throughout their stint.

It may be difficult to expect a Cabinet set to stay in office for less than a year to push through a broad range of reform tasks such as overhauling the public pension scheme and increasing labor market flexibility. Saenuri leader Kim Moo-sung appeared to share this concern when he said last week that Cabinet members should stay in office for more than a year if they want to achieve something meaningful.

None of the six ruling party lawmakers with Cabinet portfolios have so far expressed an intention to give up their parliamentary seats. Lee needs to set an example by abandoning his seat in the Assembly if he is truly committed to carrying out his work in earnest. At least two other Saenuri lawmakers in the Cabinet ― Choi Kyung-hwan and Hwang Woo-yea, the deputy prime ministers respectively in charge of economic and social affairs ― would have to follow suit.

Last week’s partial shake-up of the Cabinet fell short of mounting public calls for a sweeping personnel reshuffle. This sentiment further raises the need for Park to select a replacement for the outgoing chief of staff Kim Ki-choon that the people trust, in order to signal that she will change her uncommunicative and opaque leadership style.