Prosecutors indicted two Blue House staff members, including former senior presidential personnel secretary Cho Hyun-ok, and three ministers during the Moon Jae-in administration, including former Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, Baek Woon-gyu, who were involved in the “blacklist allegations.” It was investigated that they forced resignations from a total of 19 heads of public institutions under the Ministry of Industry, Science and Technology Information and Communication, and the Ministry of Unification between September 2017 and April 2018, the early days of the Moon Jae-in administration. In addition, it was found that after a specific person was nominated, the interviewers were notified of this fact and a model answer was provided to get a high score.
● Pressure to resign, saying, “Please resign by this week.”
On the 19th, the 6th Criminal Division of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutor’s Office (Chief Prosecutor Seo Hyun-wook) indicted five people, including former Chief Cho, former Presidential Personnel Secretary Kim Bong-joon, former Minister Baek, former Minister of Science and Technology Yoo Young-min, and former Unification Minister Jo Myung-gyun, without detention on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights. did.
According to the prosecution, former Chief Cho and former Minister Baek are accused of pressuring heads of 11 public institutions under the Ministry of Industry, including Korea Western Power and KEPCO KPS, to resign. Through the director in charge, on September 6, 2017, they called the presidents of the four power generation subsidiaries of KEPCO to hotels and restaurants in Seoul one by one and demanded that they “resign by this week.”
In addition, it was revealed that from March to July 2018, the successor heads of three public institutions, including the Korea District Heating Corporation, were internally appointed, and employees of the public institutions were instructed to write job performance plans instead. An official from the prosecution explained, “It turned out that the nominees were provided with model answers to questions expected in the interview, and that the interviewers were notified that a specific person had been nominated, so that they received high marks.” They also canceled the personnel reshuffling of 86 employees at KEPCO KPS in December 2017 after three days on the grounds that it was carried out before the successor was appointed.
● “Creating positions for politicians” in private organizations
It was investigated that former Minister Baek, along with former secretary Kim, employed personnel from the presidential campaign in a private organization. It is said that he asked the full-time vice-president of the Korea Plate Glass Industry Association, a private organization under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry, “to resign because we need to create a position for political personnel.” In the end, the association created an advisory position, moved the full-time vice president, and appointed a political figure to the position. They appointed personnel from the presidential campaign to the positions of full-time vice presidents of a total of three private organizations, including this association. In addition, former Minister Yu is accused of requesting the resignation of the heads of seven affiliated organizations, including the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation and Planning, from November 2017 to March 2018 through the then First Vice Minister of Science and Technology. Former Minister Cho is said to have pressed the resignation of the head of the North Korean Refugees Support Center under the Ministry of Unification, whose term of office was about one year left in July 2017, through the Vice Minister of Unification at the time, asking him to “quickly resign.”
Regarding this, the suspects are still known to deny the charges, saying, “During his tenure, he was dealt with according to the regulations set by the law” (Former Minister Baek).
With this announcement, the related investigation was concluded about four years after the Liberty Korea Party (currently People’s Power) raised suspicions of the Ministry of Industry’s blacklist in January 2019. Including the conviction of former Environment Minister Kim Eun-kyung and former Presidential Secretary for Balanced Personnel Shin Mi-sook in the case of the ‘Ministry of Environment blacklist’ during the Moon Jae-in administration, four ministers and three Blue House staff members were involved in the blacklist-related case. However, as the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office is also investigating related charges against other ministries such as the Ministry of Education and former chief of staff Lim Jong-seok, there is a possibility that additional figures from the previous government will be handed over to trial.
Reporter Koo Min-ki koo@donga.com