Yoon on Personnel Failure Controversy: "Have You Seen Any Excellent Ministers in the Previous Administration?"

Discomfort Over Consecutive Personnel Criticisms
Concerns About Weakening National Momentum and Calls for Change in President's Attitude

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] President Yoon Suk-yeol said on the 5th, in response to repeated criticisms of poor personnel appointments, "Have you ever seen such excellent people among ministers appointed by the previous administration?"

President Yoon made this remark on his way to the Yongsan Presidential Office around 9 a.m. when reporters mentioned, "There are criticisms of poor personnel appointments and failures regarding Song Ok-ryeol, nominee for Fair Trade Commission Chairman, Park Soon-ae, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, and Kim Seung-hee, former nominee for Minister of Health and Welfare."

When reporters asked again, "The president is responsible for personnel appointments. Many of these recurring issues could have been sufficiently verified in advance," President Yoon replied, "Try comparing with other administrations. Look at the qualifications of the people," and then headed straight to his office.

This revealed his discomfort over the ongoing controversy surrounding personnel issues, including Kim Seung-hee, who denied allegations of violating the Political Funds Act but voluntarily resigned the day before, and Song Ok-ryeol, whose past sexual harassment remarks were reexamined, leading to an apology acknowledging mistakes.

Regarding Deputy Prime Minister Park Soon-ae, when she was caught driving under the influence in 2001, her blood alcohol concentration was 0.251%, and she received a suspended sentence. Compared to the fact that teachers with DUI records find it difficult to be promoted to principal or receive government awards, there have been continuous criticisms that Park’s appointment is inappropriate.

President Yoon also said on his way to work the previous day, before expressing his stance on the matter, that "I don’t think it’s comparable to the previous government" when asked about former nominee Kim Seung-hee.

Although President Yoon repeatedly indicated that there is no major problem with the appointments compared to the previous administration, public opinion has worsened significantly. According to a survey conducted by Gallup Korea and announced on the 1st, in the last week of June (surveyed from the 28th to 30th), 18% of respondents who gave negative evaluations of the president’s job performance cited "personnel issues" as the reason. This was a higher percentage than those who pointed to "economic and livelihood issues" (10%) (survey of 1,000 adults nationwide, margin of error ±3.1 percentage points at 95% confidence level). For more details, refer to the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.

President Yoon said he would not pay attention to the poll results, but political circles warn that the momentum of state affairs could decline in the early stages of his term, when he needs to push forward economic issues and various reforms. They suggest that without reforms to the personnel system and strengthening moral verification, personnel problems will continue to negatively affect the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.

There are also criticisms that the president needs to change his attitude toward personnel failures. Professor Shin Yul of Myongji University’s Department of Political Science and Diplomacy said, "The public has their own absolute standards and criteria for personnel. When the president presents comparisons with the previous government, it will cause resentment among the people," and added, "When it is time to apologize, the president should step forward and apologize."