Murmurs Grow Over Minister’s Firing

“Having watched Yoo Jin-ryong, vice minister of culture and tourism, get fired, I cannot but feel skeptical about my career as a public official. Amateurs who know nothing about administration are sitting in Cheong Wa Dae and making appointments of personnel to high-ranking posts at the government and government financed institutions child’s play.”

On August 13, a public official at a governmental agency in charge of economic affairs expressed his bitterness and frustration that Yoo had been dismissed after having rejected requests for personnel affairs from Cheong Wa Dae.

While many public officials feel sympathies toward vice minister Yoo on one hand, they deplore, “Who would be brave enough to reject it if Cheong Wa Dae places a call and make a request for personnel appointment as it did to Yoo?” on the other. They complain, “Under the current administration, requests for personnel changes from Cheong Wa Dae have gotten more excessive than ever.”

A director-level public official at Gwacheon Government Complex pointed out, “The biggest problem is that those in the corridors of power themselves are unfamiliar with state administration and they are trying to dole out important posts to the same kind who are not “up to the task.”

His point is that the principles in personnel affairs are collapsing as Cheong Wa Dae tries to push ahead with “revolving door appointments” of figures without proven track records in terms of experience and capabilities.

A manager-level public official said, “Under the current administration, the higher up the ladder, the likelier you will experience “absurd happenings” like Yoo did.” He added, “In the circle of public officials, there is a talk that as this administration’s term will end soon, it’s better to get promoted slowly and join the ranks of senior officials later.”

A public official at the Central Government Complex criticized, “Even when requests for personnel appointments are made, there are lines that should not be crossed. Threatening with a probe lest he would turn down the request, Cheong Wa Dae was acting like a frivolous gangster on the street.”

The inside of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is still smoldering. Public officials’ enraged voices are continuously heard in private settings, even though they don’t express their feelings openly.

A public official at the ministry said, “The explanation from Cheong Wa Dae about the reason behind Yoo’s dismissal is really ridiculous. Yoo was “an exemplary senior official to junior officials” inside the ministry and I feel sorry that he could not do anything but resign.”

A senior-ranking official at the Central Government Complex said, “These days, inside each ministry, assignment to Cheong Wa Dae is shunned among public officials. The reason why, he said, “At Cheong Wa Dae, although more chances are available to get promoted, there is also risk of becoming an odd man out because those there might say that you are not on the same wavelength as them.”

A former public official who worked at a governmental agency dealing with foreign affairs and security said, “If public officials don’t follow obediently, the office of the Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs threatens him or her by conducting a probe into the discipline in officialdom and sacks him or her. This is this administration’s typical way of taming public officials.”

A figure knowledgeable to the inner workings of ministries that deal with foreign affairs and security said, “Back in January 2004, when the North American Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a critical opinion about foreign policies of President Roh and the National Security Council, the Senior Presidential Secretary Office for Civil Affairs carried on a massive probe into the discipline in officialdom. This time around, Cheong Wa Dae threatened former vice minister Yoo with a probe. Both events are essentially of the same nature.”

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