Shoddy personnel vetting pouring fuel on falling approval ratings - 경향신문

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‘Legal issues’ emerging for the justice minister nominee Kim Seung-won, nominee for Minister of Justice, heads to the office set up at the Jeokseon Hyundai Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 7th to prepare for his confirmation hearing. Joint press photo

Controversy surrounding Kim Seung-won, nominee for Minister of Justice, and Yong Hye-in, nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, is spreading, and the cabinet reshuffle carried out to secure governing momentum is instead accelerating the decline in approval ratings. Critics say this round of appointments exposed fundamental problems across the presidential office’s internal personnel systemfrom recommending senior public office candidates to vetting and final designation.

Alongside criticism that the functions at each appointment stage failed to operate properly, suspicions are also being raised that no one could run counter to the ‘Myeong-pick’ (President Lee Jae Myung’s choice).

Of the six ministerial nominees announced in the reshuffle on the 30th of last month, with National Assembly confirmation hearings set to begin on the 15th, Kim and Yong now face the prospect of being dropped.

For Kim, a suspended indictment over alleged lobbying related to clinical trials for a COVID-19 therapeutic and a record of drunk driving are at issue; for Yong, controversy over unfairness is growing due to her insistence on concurrently holding her proportional-representation seat and allegations of privatizing the Basic Income Party. Even within the ruling party, some question whether meaningful confirmation hearings will be possible. Back in January, Lee Hye-hoon, nominee for Minister of Planning and Budget, was battered by public opinion over allegations of bullying an aide and her child’s improper housing subscription; after the hearing, her nomination was withdrawn.

In principle, appointments of ministerial-level officials are centered on the presidential office’s Personnel Committee, chaired by presidential chief of staff Kang Hun-sik and composed of senior secretaries as members. The Personnel Office handles recommendations, the Civil Affairs Office conducts vetting, and the Political Affairs Office provides the political judgment needed for final designation, dividing up the roles.

The spate of ministerial nominee controversies has drawn assessments that the presidential office’s personnel system is in disarray. A hole has effectively opened in a ministerial nomination system that should pass through at least three stages. If that is not the case, one can only conclude the step-by-step functions did operate, but the appointing authority, President Lee, decided to proceed to the nomination announcement.

After early troublesformer civil affairs chief Oh Gwang-su stepping down over alleged real estate held under borrowed names, and Education Ministry nominee Lee Jin-sook and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family nominee Kang Sun-woo respectively seeing a nomination withdrawal and a voluntary resignation after confirmation hearingsthe Lee Jae Myung administration revamped its personnel system. In September last year, the presidential office created a Personnel Office and appointed Cho Sung-ju, who had worked for 30 years at the Ministry of Personnel Management, as senior secretary for personnel. Many interpreted this as an effort to dispel outside perceptions that a very small Seongnam/Gyeonggi-line circle of aides monopolized personnel operations. Even so, the same problems have been repeating since the Personnel Office was created.

Criticism has also persisted that the Civil Affairs Office’s vetting function is flawed. In Kim’s case, the alleged lobbying over new drug approval resulted in a suspended indictment by prosecutors, suggesting it was a matter thoroughly reviewed at the vetting stage. Nonetheless, the fact that he was finally nominated appears to reflect a judgment that this issue did not rise to the level of disqualifying him from serving as minister.

There is also criticism that the political function did not play its role. In Yong’s case, the presidential office either disregarded the convention that proportional-representation lawmakers resign their seats when entering the cabinet, or concluded that concurrent holding of the posts would not be problematic.

Such choices are hard to defend against criticism that they overlooked young public opinion sensitive to fairness issues.

There are also fundamental questions about the appointment style of President Lee, who holds the appointing authority. Ahead of the Democratic Party’s primary for a National Assembly speaker candidate, the June 3 local elections race for Seoul mayor, and the Democratic Party’s August 17 national convention, the ruling party saw controversies over ‘Myeong-pick’ candidates reflecting President Lee’s preferences; within the ruling camp, it is said to be difficult to voice opposition to personnel choices that reflect his preferences. Some see this round of appointments as reflecting structural features that make it hard to put the brakes on decisions by the President and a small circle of aides.

A ruling-camp figure said, “The saying that personnel is everything means a substantial portion of presidential authority stems from appointments,” adding, “The more personnel failures repeat, the more the opposing camp begins to view the administration as easy to challenge, and the stronger the alternative voices within the camp become.”

This person added, “For the presidential office, there is a need to thoroughly examine what factors are preventing a normal personnel system from functioning.”