By Na Jeong-ju
President Lee Myung-bak instructed his office Monday to toughen the screening of ethical qualifications of candidates for top government posts before recommending them as his nominations.
The move came as some minister-nominees are coming under growing pressure to withdraw for their alleged engagement in property speculation, tax evasion and other wrongdoings in the past.
“We need to have higher moral standards for ministers and other senior officials,” Lee said at a meeting with his secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae, according to Hong Sang-pyo, senior secretary for public relations.
Some observers said Lee may cancel his nominations for a couple of ministerial posts in view of worsening public sentiment, but his aides ruled out such a possibility.
“Lee has reminded his staff of the principles they must keep in mind when selecting people for government posts,” an aide said. “He didn’t mean ethical suspicions against certain nominees.”
Earlier this month, the conservative leader conducted a sweeping Cabinet reshuffle to replace the prime minister, seven ministers and two minister-level officials. The National Assembly’s confirmation hearings for them are now under way.
The main opposition Democratic Party claims most nominees have ethical problems.
The nominations have even drawn criticism from some ruling party lawmakers.
On Sunday, Shim Jae-chul, a three-term lawmaker of the Grand National Party, raised the question whether Cheong Wa Dae was aware of the ethical suspicions surrounding the minister-nominees.
“I wonder if the presidential office properly checked their qualifications,” Shim said in a press release. “The recent revelations of their wrongdoings are a wake-up call to the presidential office.”
Prime minister-nominee Kim Tae-ho, a former South Gyeongsang Province governor, is facing allegations that he accepted bribes from a convicted businessman during a visit to New York in April 2007.
The rapid growth of his personal wealth is also in question. His wealth reportedly grew tenfold between 2006 and 2009 while he was serving as governor.
Opposition lawmakers also alleged that he allowed his wife to use his official vehicle for private purposes and had a female worker at his office do the housework at his residence for over three years.
Kim has denied such claims and will clarify his positions at the confirmation hearings slated from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Culture minister-nominee Shin Jae-min is also under fire for multiple corruption allegations.
Government records show that he moved five times over the last 10 years and registered false home addresses in an effort to send his daughter to better schools. Shin apologized last week for the wrongdoings.
He is also suspected of having engaged in property speculation in early 2000s by using his wife’s name.
The issue surrounding special affairs minister-nominee Lee Jae-oh, nicknamed the “King’s Man” for his close relationship with President Lee is whether he exerted his influence to help Nam Sang-tae, CEO of Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, secure a second term.
The nominee Lee allegedly asked Nam to hire some of his aides. Lee denied such allegations in his confirmation hearing Monday.
Education Minister-nominee Lee Joo-ho is also facing suspicions that he evaded taxes when he offered securities worth 40 million won to his daughter and published the same scholastic paper in two different journals.