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| President Park Geun-hye, center, walks toward a meeting room after officially appointing her Chief of Staff Huh Tae-yeol, right, and National Security Office head Kim Jang-soo, left, at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. / Yonhap |
1-month anniversary marred by resignation of FTC chief-to-be
By Kim Tae-gyu
The nominee for chief of the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), Han Man-soo, withdrew from consideration over personal irregularities Monday, becoming the sixth casualty among senior designates or officials in the one-month-old Park Geun-hye government.
Han's withdrawal is the fourth since last week when venture businessman Hwang Chul-joo stepped down as the nominee to head the Small and Medium Business Administration (SMBA).
Hwang said he was unaware of the regulation obliging high-ranking officials to dispose of stocks in companies related to his duties. Under that rule, the self-made entrepreneur would have had to sell his 27-percent stake in his brainchild, Jusung Engineering.
Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-eui called it quits due to his alleged involvement in a sex-for-favors scandal and scandal-stricken Defense Minister-designate Kim Byung-kwan followed suit.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister nominee Kim Yong-joon and Ministry of Future Planning and Science (MFPS) appointee Kim Jeong-hun also bowed out in the wake of various doubts raised about them.
The latest setback of FTC head nominee Han came after criticism that the lawyer with wealth of more than 10 billion won (around $9 million) evaded paying taxes.
The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) asked Park to apologize to the public for the appointment failures and even the governing Saenuri Party said Park's aides at Cheong Wa Dae should take responsibility.
The opposition parties also took issue with Han's experience at major law firms. They claim he is not suitable to be FTC leader — the guardian of small- and medium-sized enterprises — as he has advocated for conglomerates against small firms for most of his career.
On Monday, a new suspicion sprouted that Han deposited millions of dollars in overseas accounts without reporting it to the tax authority. This seems to have prompted him to resign.
The appointments disaster invited uproar from the opposition.
"Including the transition team, 12 candidates have withdrawn, something unprecedented in previous administrations. President Park should apologize," DUP interim head Moon Hee-sang said.
The Saenuri Party also turned critical when its secretary general, Suh Byung-soo, also a close aide of President Park, leveled fire at the public affairs team at Cheong Wa Dae.
"On top of system overhauls, there should be punitive measures against those responsible (for the appointments), if necessary," Suh said in a party meeting Monday.
Of note is that Park's top-down decision-making has spawned controversy on her candidates for organizations that she stresses as centerpieces in achieving her goals of a "creative economy" and "economic democratization."
The MFPS is supposed to be the architect of the creative economy while the FTC and the SMBA are the two main agencies to realize economic democratization.
The back-to-back withdrawals are also feared to negatively affect the Saenuri Party ahead of the April 24 by-elections, where three parliamentary seats are up for grabs.
The personnel jitters have caused sinking popularity for Park whose approval rate dipped to below 50 percent in some polls, considered low for an incoming president.
Although she has the moniker of "Election Queen" thanks to her track record of spearheading successful election campaigns, the ruling party is concerned her magic might not work this time around.
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