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Cheong Wa Dae apologized to the public on Thursday about the controversy involving its key appointees even before the new government has properly been launched. Cheong Wa Dae also promised to improve its human resources system. The presidential office cannot simply be content with changing its system of vetting candidates. It must take this opportunity to reconsider its standards for appointing officials.
The side effects of the latest controversy are not likely to go away soon. It is a problem that three minister designates have withdrawn their names just nine days after a new Cabinet was announced. But a greater and more complicated problem is the fact that Cheong Wa Dae and the Cabinet are losing their balance.
So far, we have had announcements of the candidates for 25 presidential secretaries or Cabinet ministers. If you include the National Intelligence Service chief and the heads of the Board of Audit and Inspection, National Tax Service, public prosecutor general and police commissioner, who are remaining in office, there are 30 officials making up the new face of the government. Among them, 40 percent hail from the Gyeongsang Provinces in the southeast, while only 13 percent come from the Jeolla provinces in the southwest and 13 percent from the central Chungcheong region. Even if you consider the population differences between those regions, it is hard to avoid criticism that the presidential office favored people from President Lee Myun-bakĄ¯s native Gyeongsang area. And this pattern becomes more noticeable in the more powerful positions. At the presidential office, there are only people hailing from either the Gyeongsang region or from Seoul, where Lee was mayor.
It is a shame that regionalism becomes an issue in key government appointments during each administration. But this is the reality. Reforms and improvements must start from reality. It is not advisable to assign posts to people from particular regions, but we must consider what historical experiences and wisdom caused this phenomenon.
The fact that seven out of nine chief presidential secretaries are former academics can be seen as overdoing it. If academics succeed in using their expertise and their willingness for reforms, they may be of great help to government. But on this scale? Ten out of 41 presidential secretaries, who are involved in more working-level duties, are also former academics. Similarly, it would not be right to shut people out simply because they are rich. But the average wealth amassed by the minister designates is beyond what ordinary people can accept.
Excluding a few, most of the 25 officials tapped for key posts by the new government are said to have some form of tie to the president. It is useful to know the president while working in a key government post. But it also poses many problems. Appointing officials requires tact and finesse.
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