Ministry of Justice: "Only Responsible for First Personnel Verification, No Leakage of Personnel Information"... "From Shadows to Light"

Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon. / Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The Ministry of Justice has stated that taking over the public official personnel verification duties previously conducted by the Blue House Civil Affairs Office is "an effort to bring the personnel verification work, which was previously done 'in the shadows,' into the 'light' to enhance transparency."

Regarding concerns about the over-expansion of the Ministry of Justice's authority and the use of personnel information in investigations, the Ministry clarified, "The Ministry of Justice will only be responsible for the first-stage practical verification, not personnel recommendation or final verification, and guidelines will be established to ensure that no one in the Ministry, including the Minister of Justice, can access any information from the personnel verification process."

On the 25th, the Ministry of Justice announced this through the 'Explanation Materials on the Establishment of the Personnel Information Management Unit' distributed to the press corps.

The day before, the Ministry of Justice issued a legislative notice for the amendment of the 'Enforcement Rules of the Ministry of Justice and Its Affiliated Agencies Organization Act' (Ministry of Justice Ordinance), which delegates the public official personnel verification function to the Minister of Justice and establishes a Personnel Information Management Unit composed of prosecutors and police officers under the Minister of Justice.

In response, political and legal circles pointed out that ▲ since personnel verification is not included in the Minister of Justice's duties under the Government Organization Act, establishing a Personnel Information Management Unit under the Minister of Justice without legal amendment is illegal, and ▲ if the Minister of Justice, who has command and supervision authority over prosecutors under the Prosecutors' Office Act, gains personnel verification authority, information obtained during the verification process could be used as investigative information in administrative affairs.

The Ministry of Justice's distribution of explanatory materials on this day is interpreted as a measure to clarify that some of the factual bases for these concerns are inaccurate and to announce countermeasures against the risk of personnel verification information leakage.

"Previous Government's Civil Affairs Office Also Performed Duties by Delegated Authority" vs "The Presidential Secretariat or Prime Minister's Office Is Different from the Ministry of Justice"

The opposition party argues that it is illegal for the Ministry of Justice to take over personnel verification authority without amending the Government Organization Act.

However, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety maintain that since the personnel verification duties, which the Ministry of Personnel Innovation had entrusted to the Chief of the Presidential Secretariat and were handled by the Civil Affairs Office, are being delegated to the Ministry of Justice in accordance with Article 6 of the Government Organization Act, which allows administrative authority to be entrusted to other ministries when necessary, no separate legal amendment is required.

The Ministry of Justice stated, "The Civil Affairs Office, including the previous government, performed personnel verification duties by the Ministry of Personnel Innovation entrusting the Presidential Secretariat in accordance with the Government Organization Act and the Presidential Decree on the Collection and Management of Information on Public Office Candidates, and the operational method of the Personnel Information Management Unit is the same," adding, "If such delegation of duties were illegal, then all personnel verification conducted by past governments would be illegal, making such claims unreasonable."

However, there are considerable counterarguments to this explanation by the Ministry of Justice. Professor Han Sang-hee of Konkuk University Law School pointed out, "The Presidential Secretariat fundamentally oversees overall state affairs, so it is different from the Ministry of Justice," and added, "It might be acceptable if the authority was delegated to the Prime Minister's Office, but delegating it to a specific ministry that originally did not have this authority contradicts the intent of the Government Organization Act."

Only Responsible for First-Stage Verification, Not 'Dedicated'... Moving from an 'Unquestionable' Area to a 'Questionable' Area

First, the Ministry of Justice stated, "The establishment of the Personnel Information Management Unit within the Ministry of Justice is a measure taken following the President's decision to abolish the Civil Affairs Office as part of emphasizing the 'rule of law' and the Presidential Office's relinquishment of authority."

It continued, "Personnel recommendation, verification, and final judgment functions, which were concentrated in the Presidential Office, are being distributed among multiple institutions such as the Presidential Office, Ministry of Personnel Innovation, and Ministry of Justice to enhance transparency and accountability," emphasizing, "The Ministry of Justice is only responsible for the 'first-stage' practical verification and does not participate in personnel recommendation or second-stage verification."

The Ministry of Justice stated, "It is not true that the Ministry of Justice will be 'dedicated' to personnel verification," adding, "Personnel verification proceeds through the Ministry of Justice's first-stage verification and the Presidential Office's final verification, and contrary to some distorted claims, the Ministry of Justice is completely unrelated to personnel recommendation."

It further added, "(The establishment of the Personnel Information Management Unit) is a measure to bring personnel verification work, which was previously 'in the shadows,' into the 'light' to increase transparency and place it under a normal system subject to oversight," emphasizing, "It relocates personnel verification work from an 'unquestionable' area to a 'questionable' area."

The Ministry of Justice also stated, "Although personnel verification materials were destroyed during regime changes in the past, once relocated to normal ministry duties, they will be preserved according to established public document retention principles, thereby enhancing transparency and objectivity," and expressed expectations that this would be a turning point to dramatically improve the transparency of personnel verification by incorporating it into normal ministry duties, escaping criticism of the past Civil Affairs Office where verification was conducted behind closed doors influenced by political gains and losses.

"Personnel Verification Is Responsibility, Not Authority"… Head Appointed from Non-Prosecutor and Non-Ministry of Justice Background, Guidelines to Prevent Information Leakage

Meanwhile, there are considerable concerns that if the Ministry of Justice gains personnel verification authority amid the abolition of the National Intelligence Service's domestic information collection function under the Moon Jae-in administration and Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon's announcement of reviving the Investigation Information Office of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, which was abolished in the previous government, it could lead to excessive concentration of power.

In response, the Ministry of Justice emphasized, "Personnel authority lies in recommendation and final judgment of verification results, and verification duties are closer to responsibility than authority," adding, "The Ministry of Justice is only responsible for the first-stage practical verification, not personnel recommendation or final verification."

It continued, "Verification work is highly specialized and technical, leaving no room for discretion itself, so the Ministry of Justice taking on personnel verification duties should not be seen as an expansion of authority," and added, "In advanced countries such as the United States, the Ministry of Justice also performs public official verification duties."

Regarding the specific operation plan of the Personnel Information Management Unit, the Ministry of Justice stated, "The head of the Personnel Information Management Unit will be a career public official (personnel expert) from outside the prosecution and Ministry of Justice, and to ensure independence, the office will be established at a third-party location, not within the Ministry of Justice," adding, "The Minister of Justice will not receive any intermediate reports to fully guarantee the independence of the verification process."

Regarding concerns that information collected during personnel verification could be passed to investigative agencies and used in administrative affairs, the Ministry of Justice emphasized, "Information collected and managed by the Personnel Information Management Unit is used only for verification purposes with the consent of the verification subject, and using the information beyond the intended scope is strictly prohibited."

It added, "A clear Chinese Wall will be established within the Ministry of Justice to prevent any leakage of personnel verification information externally," and announced, "Guidelines will be established to ensure that no one in the Ministry of Justice, including the Minister of Justice, can access any information from the personnel verification process."