Editorial: Broken Personnel System, Kim Hyun-ji's Influence Resurfaces

Regarding Yong Hye-in, a nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, who faced family party issues, the opposition party raised suspicions of an 'underground organization' behind her. People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig said, 'There is a non-official organization from the activist circle behind Ms. Yong.' If Cheong Wa Dae's personnel system, where the personnel line recommends and the civil affairs line verifies, had functioned normally, both nominees would have already been deemed unqualified. The issues with Kim were facts already revealed during the prosecution's investigation, and the related individuals are currently on trial. Regarding Yong, these are issues that could have been identified in advance with even a basic reputation check. If Cheong Wa Dae was unaware, the personnel system has collapsed; if they knew and still nominated her, the system has been neutralized. Suspicions that personnel appointments within and around the Democratic Party are made through private lines rather than a public system have also emerged for these reasons. A former Democratic Party spokesperson recently said on YouTube, 'The personnel line is Kim Hyun-ji.' The individual claimed, 'It was a light-hearted joke,' but suspicions of personnel intervention by Kim Hyun-ji, the Chief of the Presidential Secretariat, are not new. Last year, Kim Nam-kuk, then a Cheong Wa Dae secretary, sent a text message to a Democratic Party lawmaker requesting a personnel favor, saying, 'I will recommend it to Hunsik hyung and Hyunji nunna.' Cheong Wa Dae concluded there was no problem, but this time, the issue has resurfaced not from the opposition but from within the ruling party. There are more than a few signs of abnormalities in personnel appointments under President Lee Jae Myung's government. In the recent cabinet reshuffle, the replaced ministers learned of their replacement only after Cheong Wa Dae's announcement, and the policy chief, who seemed to be remaining, was replaced the day after the reshuffle. If an independent inspector general is appointed, they should first investigate suspicions of personnel intervention by the president's close aides and explain the results to the public in an understandable manner.