Cheong Wa Dae Faces Justice Minister Dilemma

“Deciding what to do with the justice minister is a dilemma. We cannot replace him, because he speaks his mind, and we cannot make him stay because of the controversy that would create,” said a Cheong Wa Dae official yesterday.

The presidential office is debating whether to replace Justice Minister Kim Seong-ho or not. Replacing him would cause a public outcry. People would argue, “Speaking one’s own mind shouldn’t be a reason to fire the person.” But letting him continue in office will provoke anger within government. They would say, “We can’t work with a minister who caused trouble.”

A Cheong Wa Dae insider said that nothing has been determined about the replacement, but complained at the same time, “Kim’s too outspoken.” Such sentiment was echoed by the Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson yesterday that said, “At this moment, there is no replacement plan.” Pay attention to the phrase, “At the moment.”

Already in early June, the presidential office was discussing how to address the “Kim” issue because of confrontations he had with the office stemming from his outspokenness. In an interview with this newspaper on January 4, Justice Minister Kim made a lot of business-friendly comments publicly, such as, “Counter-lawsuits will be allowed in order to prevent frivolous lawsuits against companies.”

Considering that Cheong Wa Dae is literally “limiting” media interviews by cabinet members, these remarks allegedly earned minister Kim a “warning,” from the office, even though the justice ministry denies it.

Kim said at an interpellation session on June 11, “The Central Election Management Committee took issue with President Roh’s remarks using Article 9 of the Election Law, and I do not think the article that says “remain impartial on electoral matters” is unconstitutional.” This comment was made after Kim, supposedly one of the president’s men, presented an interpretation of the law 180 degrees different from that of the president right after he railed against the CEMC’s decision on June 8, saying, “It is one of the most hypocritical laws in the world, it’s unprecedented.”

Not many believe Kim will be able to keep his post, especially because Roh had made a constitutional petition for this article with the Constitutional Court.

Kim, in regard to investigations being conducted by prosecutors, said on July 10 and 12, “If Lee’s brother-in-law drops the suit, prosecutors should put the investigations to rest.” This comment also is very different from the position of Cheong Wa Dae, which entered into “full-blown war mode” against Lee. These are the reasons why the presidential office reportedly had already asked Yoon Jong-nam, the former chief of the Seoul Nambu District Prosecutors` Office, Jeong Seong-jin, the head of the Korea Independent Commission Against Corruption, and others whether they are interested in the post even before the Kim’s replacement. In the meantime, Cheong Wa Dae will allow Attorney General Jeong Sang-myeong, whose early resignation was reviewed by the presidential office, to complete his two-year tenure.

The reasons behind this are that Jeong’s tenure ends right before the presidential election due to be held on November 23; that Jeong has been publicly saying, “I will retire only when my tenure ends”; that sensitive investigations against GNP’s presidential hopefuls are being carried out; and that the refusal by Lim Seung-gwan, the vice chief of the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office, to take over Jeong is going through. Jeong and Lim both passed the judicial examination with president Roh Moo-hyun (17th examination).

jin0619@donga.com