Office of Public Service Discipline Secretary "Similar to US FBI... Recommendation by Office of Public Service Discipline Secretary & Verification by Personnel Information Management Unit"
"Minister only reports results to ensure objectivity and neutrality... Separate office established"
[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] On the 25th, the Presidential Office stated regarding the Ministry of Justice's establishment of the Personnel Information Management Unit to replace the personnel verification duties of the former Civil Affairs Office, "Originally, President Yoon Seok-yeol promised not to place the Civil Affairs Office within the Presidential Office."
This is interpreted as a rebuttal to the opposition's fierce criticism linking Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon and the establishment of the Personnel Information Management Unit as an attempt to make him a "king minister."
A Presidential Office official said at a briefing held at the Yongsan Presidential Office building in the afternoon, "Since the Presidential Office is policy-centered, it is appropriate to send the verification process of high-ranking public officials to the Cabinet."
The official explained, "I understand that President Yoon judged that placing it within the Ministry of Justice would be appropriate when referring to the Cabinet. The process of finding, recommending, and appointing personnel remains within the Presidential Office, while the verification process moves to the Ministry of Justice."
Furthermore, the official added, "There was also an option to place it under the Prime Minister's Office, but internally there was an opinion that 'the Prime Minister's Office is for national administration coordination, so this (personnel verification unit) is not suitable.' We clarify that the Personnel Information Management Unit is not a prosecution-led organization. The head of the Personnel Verification Management Unit is likely to be someone from outside the prosecution and the Ministry of Justice," emphasizing this point repeatedly.
The Public Service Discipline Secretary Office of the Presidential Office also explained in a press release titled "Background and Operational Direction of the Establishment of the Personnel Information Management Unit," distributed to reporters on the same day, that "the establishment of the Personnel Information Management Unit within the Ministry of Justice is part of the 'abolition of the Civil Affairs Office' and 'relinquishing the concentrated authority within the Presidential Secretariat.' We introduced a system that allows mutual checks and balances through the decentralization of excessively concentrated authority to ensure fair and objective public appointments desired by the public."
It continued, "The Civil Affairs Office was solely responsible for personnel verification of public office candidates, but political considerations limited neutral and objective verification. Since excessive authority concentrated in any institution carries a high risk of abuse, personnel verification also needs to be structurally improved to be conducted under an objective system that allows checks and balances," emphasizing the necessity of establishing the Personnel Information Management Unit.
The Public Service Discipline Secretary Office also refuted the opposition's criticism that the Ministry of Justice would become an omnipotent institution in the public service sector due to the establishment of the Personnel Information Management Unit. First, the existing system, where the Public Service Discipline Secretary Office was responsible for the entire personnel verification process, has been improved so that the first verification is handled by the Personnel Information Management Unit, and the Public Service Discipline Secretary Office will check the verification results. The personnel recommendation department and the personnel verification department are strictly separated, and the system is divided into two stages?Ministry of Justice and Public Service Discipline Secretary Office?to enable mutual checks and balances.
It was also clarified that the mutual check system between the Personnel Information Management Unit and the Public Service Discipline Secretary Office is borrowed from the advanced system of the United States. The Public Service Discipline Secretary Office explained, "The Personnel Information Management Unit will be responsible for verifying facts based on objective data about public office candidates independently from the Presidential Office. In the U.S., the White House Counsel's Office initiates the verification of public office candidates, then requests the FBI under the Department of Justice to conduct the first verification. After the FBI reports the first verification results, the Counsel's Office conducts a comprehensive review and judgment, which is how personnel verification is carried out."
In particular, it rebutted opposition concerns by stating, "To secure objectivity and neutrality in the Personnel Information Management Unit's work, the Minister of Justice will only receive the verification results, and the Personnel Information Management Unit's office will be separately established outside," emphasizing this point.
The Public Service Discipline Secretary Office concluded, "Through the establishment of the Personnel Information Management Unit, it is expected that the objectivity, neutrality, and transparency of personnel verification duties will be strengthened in accordance with the principles of decentralization of authority and checks and balances in the future."
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