[김순덕 칼럼]’The Republic of the Prosecutors’ Office Yoon Seok-yeol’

Entrusting key positions in the presidential office to the prosecution
Talents who are not prosecutors are deprived of opportunities
Prosecutors who became almost one body with President Yoon
Can you investigate without noticing the power?

zoom2022.6.7 Provided by the Presidential Office

The first meeting of the chiefs and aides of the Blue House following the Democratic Party of Korea won a landslide victory in the June 13 local elections four years ago. At the time, President Moon Jae-in praised his competence and morality, saying, “Thanks to the Blue House Secretariat and the Cabinet who did a very good job.”

No one knows that ‘Moon Jae-in’s Blue House’ is mainly from the 86th group movement. There are also a number of people from the Solidarity of Participation and Minbyon. Former President Moon Jae-in, who has filled the secretariat with a ‘camcorder’ (camp, code, and the Democratic Party of Korea) who shares the same ideology with him, even made an absurd confession of faith that day, saying, “The Blue House is the center and brain that guides the government of the Republic of Korea.”

Now, four years later, the government has changed and President Yoon Seok-yeol, a former prosecutor general, has been inaugurated. As a presidential candidate, he made it clear in his YouTube video ‘Human Seok-Yeol Yoon’, “I’m going to put in a lot of effort to find talent by having a system that employs a wide range of talents.”

However, there are as many as 15 prosecutors (including prosecutors and investigators) among the key positions in the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, the presidential office, and the financial authorities. Already, the voice of the ‘republic of the prosecution’ is coming out.

Of course, President Yoon said, “Our personnel principle is to use competent people in the right places.” Recalling that former President Moon boasted of his competence even when he only greeted with a camcorder, I wondered if it was a human instinct to be ‘naked up’.

It seems to be true that the prosecution, especially the elite special department, do a good job. Kim Hyeon, former president of the Korean Bar Association, said, “In order to achieve tangible results within five years by quickly and effectively eradicating the many corruptions of the left-wing government, it may be necessary to hire a competent person the president knows well, such as Lee Bok-hyun, the head of the Financial Supervisory Service.”

So Kim Yong-gap, former senior secretary for civil affairs, once said, “You should never use a prosecutor for the chief of civil affairs,” said Park Geun-hye during the former president’s days. This is because a prosecutor who wears top and bottom clothes cannot say “No” to the president. It is good that President Yoon abolished it altogether, saying that he would liquidate the evil that the Senior Civil Affairs Office took control of the administrative agency. However, as five of the six positions in the presidential office, including personnel, civil affairs (law and public service discipline), and budget, were entrusted to former prosecutors, the presidential office eventually became like a huge office for the chief of civil affairs.

Moreover, there is no real chief of civil affairs who has to convey bitterness to the president along with the public sentiment at the bottom. For this reason, even if the domestic media point out that Amman’s “prosecution bias” is not pointed out by foreign media, President Yoon will not listen. “In the past, people from Minbyon didn’t do paperwork,” he said, saying, “He did it, but I can’t.” He sounds like a child.

Even the appointment of the chief of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, who was in charge of the key to the Supreme Prosecutor’s Vault and general personnel, to the position of the personnel planning secretary, who should find high-ranking public officials, suggests that the appointment of high-ranking public officials in the Yun Seok-Yeol administration will not do much in the future. Even so, President Yoon is famous for his style of taking care of only ‘my family’ who he has worked with. This is a huge injustice and deprivation of opportunities for the ‘remaining talents’ who have not worked with President Yoon, who have no opportunity to work under this government. Looking at the country as a whole, it is a loss of talent and the president’s negligence.

It is also serious that Bo-eun appointed a privately related person, such as appointing Lee Wan-gyu, a disciplinary agent of President Yoon’s inspection, to the head of the Legislative Affairs Office, and Cho Sang-joon, an attorney for the alleged stock price manipulation case of President Yun’s wife, to the head of the Planning and Coordination Office of the National Intelligence Service. The signs that the prosecution system is ‘privatized’ are ominous. However, when the corruption of the president’s family becomes suspicious, it is doubtful which prosecutor will dare to investigate without noticing it. No matter how hard the prosecution investigates the corruption of the Moon administration, it may not be recognized for its fairness.

A bigger problem is the fact that the independence from the political power of the prosecution, which President Yoon tried to protect while risking his post as prosecutor general, has been shaken absurdly. A personnel information management group to be in charge of public officials verification was launched under the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice, which is under the prosecution, has the authority to collect information as well as verify public officials. There is also criticism that the separation of powers is collapsing.

The people who wanted a change of government did not even want a ‘republic of the prosecution’. At the personnel hearing, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said, “The reform of the prosecution that the people want is for a competent prosecutor to punish corruption without paying attention to those in power.” In the Yoon administration, the prosecution is becoming one with the president, not the ‘handmaiden of power’. If a minister is to survive five years later, he will have to look only at the people. I mean, don’t be loyal to people.

Waiting for Kim Soon-deok [e-mail]

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