President Moon Jae-in tapped candidates for five ministerial posts Sunday. All the five nominees took part in his election campaign or are directly connected to the liberal President.
Appraisals of the Sunday round of nominations, the third of its kind since President Moon took office on May 10, were clearly divided.
Proponents closely evaluated the selections, citing regional and gender balance. More than anything else, Moon clarified his intention to speed up progressive reform by nominating reformists with no ties to the relevant ministries.
Moon nominated Kim Sang-kon, former head of the Gyeonggi Provincial Education Office, as the deputy prime minister for social affairs and education minister. Kim aggressively carried out a liberal education agenda such as a free school meal program and has implicated himself in mapping out Moon’s educational pledges.
Ahn Kyong-whan, who was nominated as the justice minister, is a progressive scholar of constitutions. He led the National Human Rights Commission during the presidency of Roh Moo-hyun, the political mentor to Moon, and is best suited to overhaul the prosecution, one of the country’s most powerful organs.
On the contrary, Moon faced harsh criticism for selecting only his loyalists. These nominees could push ahead with the progressive policies of the new administration, but there are concerns that their nominations might deepen social conflicts that are already rampant here.
Out of the 11 nominees for ministerial posts so far, nine are pro-Moon figures, except the nominee for finance minister and the foreign minister-designate. A Cabinet of this kind is a far cry from what Moon promised to form during his campaign, reflecting the public’s wish for national unity.
All this raises fears that the Moon government might not be different from previous administrations, which routinely handed out high-ranking positions according to merit after the election. We are already familiar with the dangers of the Cabinet consisting of the president’s subordinates alone without voices of dissent.
Self-righteousness and arrogance is an enemy to “cooperative governance” as President Moon has emphasized repeatedly. But cooperative governance is easier said than done. President Moon should listen to opposition parties sincerely and boldly accept their reasonable demands.