[Column] President Moon Angered by Cheong Staff's 'Careless Talk'

Cheong Wa Dae Panorama / Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] "People who say things like this have no place in the Blue House anymore."

President Moon Jae-in, known for rarely showing anger, reportedly lost his temper at some aides during an informal gathering recently. He was visibly displeased when a secretary-level personnel reshuffle announced over the weekend was leaked to the outside world before the Blue House's official announcement. It is said that even a senior official in the Presidential Secretariat had to work hard to explain the situation due to President Moon's 'unusual anger.'

Amid this, there was another major slip of the tongue. On the 2nd, Kang Ki-jung, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs at the Blue House, revealed specific figures of the 3rd supplementary budget (supplementary budget) during a meeting with the opposition party leader. It was a careless mistake. Considering the scale and importance of the 3rd supplementary budget, a government-wide embargo had been set until the scheduled Cabinet meeting the next day (3rd at 10 a.m.). This was a kind of 'promise' to deliver economic policies in a planned manner and to maximize the effect on the economy, which has been weakened by the COVID-19 crisis.

President Moon also kept this 'promise' by only mentioning during the 6th Emergency Economic Meeting on the 1st that "the largest-ever 3rd supplementary budget was prepared as a single supplementary budget." Although the detailed figures had already been reported, the government embargo was taken into account.

However, the very promise kept by the president was broken by a senior aide, Kang. This caused confusion not only in the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the responsible department, but also in the media. Kang himself said, "I forgot. It was a mistake."

This was not his first mistake. In January, he caused unnecessary controversy by mentioning a 'real estate sales permit system' that had not been discussed with the government at all. At that time, Kang was sharply reprimanded by his direct superior, Presidential Chief of Staff Noh Young-min, who said, "You messed up." In baseball terms, this was a 'two-strike' situation.

In early 2018, as President Moon entered his second year in office, he hung framed calligraphy of the phrase "Chunpoong Chusang (春風秋霜)" written by Shin Young-bok in every office of the Presidential Secretariat. It means, "Treat others gently like the spring breeze, but be strict with yourself like the autumn frost." When Chief of Staff Noh and Senior Secretary Kang were appointed simultaneously in January last year, they said it was a four-character idiom that everyone working in the Secretariat should keep in mind. Now, a year and a half later, it is time for them to reflect on whether they have truly upheld that resolve.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.