[Reporter’s Notebook] Is Personal Ties with the Economic Chief Being Used for Electioneering?

About 70 Days Before the General Election...
Even Falling Leaves Require Caution
Is It Appropriate for an Incumbent Minister to Meet with a Specific Preliminary Candidate?
Former Presidential Secretariat Members Used as 'Campaign Tools'

With the April 10 general election just over 70 days away, public officials these days often find themselves embroiled in controversies over violations of political neutrality obligations even for simply clicking ‘like’ on a social network service (SNS) post of a specific candidate.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok (left in the photo) met with Jo Ji-yeon, the People Power Party's preliminary candidate for the National Assembly representing Gyeongsan City, Gyeongbuk, on the 16th at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, to discuss transportation issues in Gyeongsan City.
[Photo by Jo, preliminary candidate's blog]

On the 16th, Jo Ji-yeon, the People Power Party’s preliminary candidate for Gyeongsan City, met with Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, to request national funding for transportation issues. The press release created and distributed directly by Jo’s campaign was reported through local media outlets. The reports included photos of Jo reviewing documents side by side with Minister Choi. This can be sufficiently interpreted as Minister Choi being utilized in Jo’s election campaign.

Coincidentally, on the same day (the 16th), Bang Ki-seon, Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, held a ‘Central Administrative Agency Auditors’ Meeting’ at the Government Seoul Office Building, gathering auditors from 48 central administrative agencies. He emphasized strengthening inspections to prevent acts that could influence the election, such as supporting the establishment of pledges for specific political parties and providing policy materials, and conveyed the key points of public service management for 2024.

Of course, it cannot be said that Minister Choi violated political neutrality obligations merely by listening to opinions from ministers and vice ministers. The problem lies in Jo using his acquaintance with Minister Choi to hold a meeting and leveraging it for his own election campaign. Jo was an administrative officer at the Office of National Planning under the former presidential secretariat and served as the head of the message team in President Yoon Seok-yeol’s transition team’s presidential office. This can be seen as a premium of being a ruling party preliminary candidate.

Minister Choi explained, “Since he was a colleague who worked together at the presidential office, I accepted the meeting request and briefly met to offer encouragement; there was no special meaning.” In the last general election, a court official in Jecheon City, Chungbuk Province, was reported after posting promotional materials for a general election candidate on SNS. A police officer stirred controversy over violating political neutrality obligations after posting on an internal bulletin board about the achievements of a senior official who was mentioned as a prospective candidate for election.

This is a time when political neutrality must be strictly maintained to the extent that one should remember the saying, ‘Be careful even of falling leaves.’ Public officials must not forget that they can easily become tools for the election campaign of a specific preliminary candidate.