Criticism of Prosecutorial Bias in Appointments Met with Yoon's Retort "In the Past, It Was Filled with Minbyun"... 'Tit-for-Tat' Appointment Debate

Yoon Appointed 13 Prosecutor-Origin Officials... Many Close Aides Included
Criticism of Bias Met with "Wasn't It Filled with Minbyun Before?" Targeting Moon's Appointments
"Acknowledging Personnel Bias," "Should Improve, Not Repeat Mistakes" Criticism Continues

President Yoon Suk-yeol is answering questions from reporters as he arrives at the Yongsan Presidential Office building on the morning of the 9th. Photo by Seomyeongon. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Yoon Yoon-jin] President Yoon Seok-yeol's remark that "in the past, Minbyun members were overly appointed" in response to criticism that there are too many former prosecutors in key government positions has sparked criticism both inside and outside the political sphere. There are concerns that repeating biased appointments in the current administration just because many Minbyun members were appointed during the Moon Jae-in administration is inappropriate.

President Yoon recently responded this way to a question on his way to the presidential office building about the criticism that prosecutor appointments are being repeated, adding, "In advanced countries like the United States, people with government attorney experience widely enter politics and government. Isn't that the rule of law?"

Since the launch of the Yoon administration, many former prosecutors have been appointed to the executive branch and the presidential office. Among appointments at the vice minister level or higher in the cabinet and secretary level or higher in the presidential office, 13 are former prosecutors. Including former prosecutorial investigators, the number rises to 16. This count does not include Minister of Unification Kwon Young-se or Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong, who have backgrounds as prosecutors or politicians.

Appointments of former prosecutors to key positions with little relevance to their expertise have intensified controversy over biased personnel. Park Min-sik, head of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, and Lee Bok-hyun, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, are the first former prosecutors to be appointed to these posts. The appointment of Park Seong-geun, a lawyer who worked as a prosecutor until two years ago, as chief of staff to the Prime Minister?usually a position held by lawmakers or administrative experts?has also been regarded as unusual.

The appointed former prosecutors are generally known to have had ties with President Yoon in the past. Yoon Jae-soon, secretary general, and Kang Ui-gu, chief of the presidential office, both considered key figures in the so-called "door-hinge power," have been close associates of President Yoon for over 20 years. Cho Sang-jun, former deputy chief prosecutor of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office and appointed head of the National Intelligence Service’s Planning and Coordination Office, is a core member of the so-called "Yoon Seok-yeol faction" and is known to have handled the defense of First Lady Kim Keon-hee in the "Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case."

Previously, the Moon administration also faced "code personnel" controversies for appointing many people who shared the president’s ideology or had worked with him. Among the eight people who served as the "three chiefs" of the Blue House (chief of staff, policy chief, national security chief) during Moon’s five years in office, only former policy chief Jang Ha-sung was not from Moon’s presidential campaign. In cabinet appointments, former Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning Yoo Young-min, from Moon’s campaign, and former Minister of Unification Cho Myung-kyun, active during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, were appointed, drawing criticism from the then-opposition Liberty Korea Party as "no grand reconciliation but typical reward appointments recycling the Roh administration."

Many civil society figures from organizations such as People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and Minbyun (Lawyers for a Democratic Society) were also appointed in the cabinet and Blue House. Key Minbyun figures include former presidential personnel chief Kim Oe-sook, former presidential civil affairs chief Kim Jin-guk, former presidential civil affairs secretary Lee Kwang-cheol, former presidential public service discipline secretary Choi Kang-wook, and former Minister of the Interior and Safety Jeon Hae-cheol. Among the four who served as Blue House policy chiefs during the Moon administration, three?Jang Ha-sung, Kim Soo-hyun, and Kim Sang-jo?were all from People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, except for Lee Ho-seung.

President Yoon’s remark that "in the past, Minbyun members were overly appointed" in response to criticism of prosecutor-heavy appointments has been met with disapproval across party lines as inappropriate. Former People Power Party Secretary Strategy Chief Kim Geun-sik wrote on Facebook on the 8th, "Saying the Moon administration was worse essentially accepts the same personnel bias." Democratic Party lawmaker Cho Eung-cheon also directly criticized on MBC Radio’s "Kim Jong-bae’s Focus" on the 9th, "Even if the Moon administration did that, we should improve, not repeat it."

However, President Yoon maintains that he may appoint more former prosecutors if necessary. On the morning of the 9th at the Yongsan presidential office, he reaffirmed his stance, saying, "These are all positions that lawyers should hold, and appointments were made only to positions where lawyers traditionally go. If necessary, (appointments of former prosecutors) should be made," indicating no problem with the personnel policy.

Regarding this, People Power Party floor leader Kwon Seong-dong appeared on CBS Radio’s "Kim Hyun-jung’s Radio" and acknowledged, "It is true that there is a limit to the talent pool because the president has spent his life as a prosecutor," but emphasized, "I hope criticism of personnel focuses on whether the appointed people are doing their jobs properly," highlighting that appointments are based on ability.

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