ED Row over reshuffle

President hit for sidelining senior presidential secretary

President Moon Jae-in should be held accountable for the unilateral reshuffling of senior prosecutors without having any consultations with Shin Hyun-soo, the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs. It is embarrassing to know that Shin has repeatedly offered to resign to protest the reshuffle, which Moon has rejected each time. But Shin must have felt that he was sidelined in the decision-making process.

The President has the right to appoint and reshuffle prosecutors at the recommendation of the justice minister. Yet the senior civil affairs secretary has traditionally played a key role in the prosecution's personnel affairs. In this regard, it is difficult to understand why Moon disregarded him in conducting a small-scale reshuffle of senior prosecutors, Feb. 7.

What matters is that Moon carried out the reshuffle at the request of Justice Minister Park Beom-kye without respecting Shin's opinion. Moon announced the reshuffle abruptly while Shin was coordinating the matter with Park. The hasty move came three days after the prosecution requested an arrest warrant for Paik Un-gyu, the former industry and energy minister. Paik is suspected of having engaged in the manipulation of data to shut down the aged Wolsong-1 nuclear reactor in 2019 ― well ahead of schedule ― to promote Moon's nuclear phase-out policy.

The presidential office denied that the warrant request prompted the sudden reshuffle. However, some critics argue that it was aimed at blocking the prosecution from arresting and questioning the ex-energy minister. If that is true, the President cannot avoid criticism for pressuring the law enforcement agency not to expand its investigation of the nuclear power plant case.

Another question is why Moon appointed Shin, a career prosecutor, as the senior secretary for civil affairs last December. His appointment was apparently aimed at appeasing the prosecution which has been at odds with the Ministry of Justice. Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl has apparently invited the rage of Moon because he has continued to investigate ranking officials and politicians, including confidants of the President, for alleged abuse of power, corruption and election rigging.

Yoon clashed head-on with former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae over his anti-corruption drive. Choo had tried in vain to kick Yoon out of the prosecution to protect the inner circle of political power. Then Moon replaced Choo with Park to help ease the conflict between the justice ministry and the prosecution. Moon also expected Shin to play a mediating role between the ministry and the agency. But by bypassing Shin in the reshuffle, the President has invited a backlash from him.

The reshuffle itself was also problematic. Despite Shin's objection, Moon decided to keep Lee Sung-yoon, who has lost the trust of rank-and-file prosecutors due to his pro-government inclinations, in his position as the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. He promoted Shim Jae-cheol, a close aide to Choo and director in charge of the prosecution at the ministry, to lead the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office.

The episode indicates that the Moon administration is still trying to directly control the prosecution to prevent it from targeting corrupt officials and politicians of the ruling camp. The sidelining of Shin could weaken Moon's leadership. It is likely to hasten the process of Moon becoming a lame-duck president. More importantly, Moon should not attempt to tame the prosecution in the name of prosecutorial reform. Instead, he must do his best to ensure the political neutrality and independence of the law enforcement agency to uphold the rule of law.