Moon appoints disputed nominees as ministers

President Moon Jae-in, right, shakes hands with SMEs and startups minister Park Young-sun during a nomination ceremony at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Yonhap

By Kim Yoo-chul

President Moon Jae-in named disputed nominees Kim Yeon-chul and Park Young-sun as unification and SMEs ministers, Monday, despite protests from the opposition parties.

Kim and Park were among five newly-appointed Cabinet ministers.

Their appointments came after the National Assembly refused to accept President Moon's calls to adopt confirmation hearing reports ― a procedure giving consent to presidential nominations ― for them.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn vowed "an all-out struggle" to stop what he described as Moon's "dictatorship," hinting at boycotting Assembly sessions.

In an appointment ceremony held at Cheong Wa Dae, Moon said, "The Ministry of SMEs and Startups is asked to take a central role in assisting ventures, startups and small business owners attain sustainable growth. As a minister, you are able to push collaborative cross-boundary efforts to keep the country's key ecosystem working."

President Moon asked Unification Minister Kim to play a role as "fine balancer" to develop and accelerate inter-Korean cooperation in sync with the development of Washington-Pyongyang relations.

"As the improvement of Washington-Pyongyang relations will affect the level of inter-Korean relations, and vice-versa, we need plans that have a beneficial impact made form balanced assessments. As your track record of pioneering and developing inter-Korean studies has spanned decades, you are qualified for the position," Moon told Kim, according to pool reports.

The adoption of confirmation hearing reports doesn't have legal binding force as it is a technical step for the Assembly to show its views on presidential nominations for new ministers. Cheong Wa Dae requested the Assembly to reissue reports, which were due April 7.

Hwang opposed Moon's appointments of Kim and Park and hinted at ending possible collaboration with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) aimed at passing bills pending at the Assembly.

"The appointment of Kim and Park as unification and SMEs ministers is simply unacceptable," Hwang said during a party meeting. Since the nominations, the LKP has voiced opposition to Kim's "pro-North Korean views" and Park's alleged ethical lapses.

The ruling DPK plans to push through the government's supplementary budget of 9 trillion won ($7.9 billion) to support the local economy, which is facing risks from sluggish investment and slowing global trade. Also, it is scheduled to meet opposition parties in the Assembly for discussions to pass bills including reforms to the Labor Standards Act and the Minimum Wage Act.

Despite the controversy surrounding the nomination of new Cabinet members, President Moon's approval rating was almost unchanged as of last week, according to a local pollster.

A weekly Realmeter survey released Monday morning showed support for President Moon fell 0.4 percentage points to 47.3 percent. His disapproval rating inched up 1.6 percentage points to 47.8 percent, during the period. DPK won support of 38.9 percent of those polled, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous week, followed by the LKP with 31.2 percent, the survey showed.

President Moon is about to enter the third year of his single five-year term and the nomination of seven top Cabinet members represents a plan to revive his flagging popularity, according to Cheong Wa Dae officials.

Moon is to have a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, April 11, at the White House in a bid to get North Korean denuclearization negotiations back on track after the meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un collapsed without yielding any results.

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