President in lurch over PM confirmation
President Moon Jae-in’s honeymoon period with opposition parties appears to have already ended. The Moon government’s plan to promptly appoint a prime minister and other ministers has hit stumbling blocks, with opposition parties taking issue with several nominees’ past wrongdoings.
While his down-to-earth and humble demeanor is drawing praise among average citizens, Moon struggles getting opposition parties to give his nominees the nod and faces a delay in forming his Cabinet.
It’s a wakeup call for Moon. Ironically, his stern ethical principles which he had promised during the election campaign are backfiring.
On Friday, the opposition parties refused to adopt a joint report over the confirmation of Prime Minister-designate Lee Nak-yon after two days of hearings, saying his wife, a former teacher, allegedly registered a false residence to be assigned to a school of her choice.
The false residence registration is not a crime serious enough to deny him confirmation, given it was commonplace among many former high-ranking officials. For example, former President Lee Myung-bak himself falsely registered addresses five times, and during the Park Geun-hye administration, five ministers were endorsed by the National Assembly despite their false residence registration.
However, the problem is false residence registration is one of five corruptive activities which Moon pledged to consider in appointing ranking officials. While running for the presidency, Moon said he would exclude those involved in the five activities — military service evasion, real estate speculation, tax evasion, false residence registration and academic plagiarism — from high-ranking posts.
Cheong Wa Dae virtually withdrew Moon’s stern criteria: When appointing female career diplomat Kang Kyung-wha for foreign minister, the presidential office said it decided to push for the nomination despite the issue considering her exceptional ability.
Not only Lee and Kang but also Fair Trade Commission head nominee Kim Sang-jo was found to have falsely registered his address while studying abroad, heralding another fussy hearing on June 2. Further, Kang’s two daughters reportedly paid their gift taxes belatedly after the mother was tapped.
The hearing for Seo Hoon, who was picked as the head of the National Intelligence Service, is slated Monday and he also faces controversy that he acquired a high amount of consultancy fees from KT Skylife, a digital satellite broadcasting firm.
The stirs have not calmed down even after Moon’s chief of staff Im Jong-seok apologized in public, Friday, saying the reality was different from the ideal. Opposition parties keep calling for Moon to apologize himself and give his stance.
“The President is making a series of appointments of people who do not meet his own principles, so he should tell the public whether he will keep doing so or he will come up with another solution,” main opposition Liberty Korea Party spokesman Jeong Yong-ki said Sunday.
The minor opposition People’s Party, which holds the casting vote at the plenary session, also remained stern. “Cheong Wa Dae should clarify whether it will take issue with the false residence registrations anymore,” party spokesman Rep. Choi Myung-ghil said.
For a breakthrough, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) asked for the opposition parties’ cooperation.
“In the other person’s shoes, the oppositions’ stance is understandable. On the other hand, please take a look at the dilemma of Cheong Wa Dae,” DPK floor leader Woo Won-shik said.
Woo offered the opposition parties to put their heads together to prepare new criteria for the hearings. “It is possible to differentiate the cases of false residence registration, whether it was for personal interest or a casual mistake,” Woo said.