The nation’s political parties are preparing for another round of clashes over President Moon Jae-in’s Cabinet nominees, with opposition parties promising tough hearings for the six nominees set to take to the stand this week.
The opposition parties have already called on three of the six candidates to voluntarily give up their nomination citing alleged ethical lapses.
Starting with National Tax Service Director nominee Han Seung-hee on Monday, Defense Minister nominee Song Young-moo and Agriculture Minister nominee Kim Yung-rok will face the parliamentary confirmation committees on Wednesday.
Kim Sang-kon, Song Young-moo and Cho Dae-yop (Yonhap)
Kim Sang-kon, nominee for education minister and deputy prime minister for social affairs, and Unification Minister nominee Cho Myoung-gyon will have theirs on Thursday. On the following day, hearings will be held for Cho Dae-yop and Chung Hyun-back, who have respectively been nominated to head the labor ministry, and gender equality ministry.
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party has honed in on three nominees -- the would-be defense ministry, education ministry, and labor ministry chiefs -- calling them the “new unfit trio” in a statement on Friday. The tag had previously been attached to those nominated to lead the Constitutional Court, Fair Trade Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Despite the rejections, President Moon Jae-in pushed ahead with the appointment with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and FTC chief Kim Sang-jo, but the appointment of the top court chief remains pending as it requires a parliamentary approval.
The chief policymaker Lee Tae-kyu of centrist People’s Party has also labeled the government’s appointment of the trio as an “act of deceiving the citizens” on Saturday.
On the same day, five Liberty Korea Party lawmakers of the special committee for national defense released a statement denouncing the Defense Minister nominee Song, listing a series of allegations.
“There has not been any worse case than Song for the defense minister nominee, and there would not be one in the future. It is an insult to the citizens and the military for nominating such personnel,” the statement read.
The former Navy chief is alleged to have obstructed a military investigation into a dubious procurement contract of naval supplies when he served the position in 2007.
Also, the oppositions claimed he had improper ties with businesses and received a large sum of money working as an adviser to a law firm.
While the nominee denied the accusations, all opposition parties, including the progressive Justice Party have expressed their rejections toward Song’s appointment.
The Education Minister nominee Kim is also under fire for dissertation plagiarism, and his left-leaning remarks were questioned for their appropriateness as an educator.
“It is inappropriate for one who is suspected of plagiarizing academic papers to take the education minister position. It is a critical fault for a person who is to be responsible for educating students,” Rep. Lee Yong-ho, the chief policymaker of the centrist People’s Party said.
Cho Dae-yop, labor minister nominee, is attacked for his drunk driving record in 2007.
The confirmation hearings for Environment Minister Kim Eun-mi and You Young-min, the nominee for science, ICT and future planning minister is to follow up on July 3 and 4 respectively.
Currently, six ministerial positions, including the prime minister, have been filled, while two seats at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Health and Welfare are still vacant.
By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)