Another civil affairs aide to Moon resigns over controversy

Senior presidential secretary for civil affairs Kim Jin-kook bows during a press briefing at Cheong Wa Dae in this March 4 photo. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

Kim Jin-kook, the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, resigned Tuesday after his son was found to have attempted to use his father's influence for employment purposes.

Kim is the fifth civil affairs senior secretary of the Moon Jae-in administration, and the fourth to step down due to a controversy.

Cheong Wa Dae said that Kim quit a day after the allegation was reported by local broadcaster MBC.

“Kim tendered his resignation immediately after arriving at work today, and President Moon Jae-in accepted it,” a senior presidential official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Kim's resignation comes about nine months after his appointment in March.

On Monday, MBC reported that Kim's son wrote on multiple job applications that his father was the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs and would help the companies if he were to get hired.

On one application, which was for a financial sales position, the son reportedly wrote about his father in the answers to all five questions on the form.

Asked about when he was younger, the son wrote, “My father is senior secretary for civil affairs Kim Jin-kook,” while in the section about his school days, he wrote, “My father will provide a lot of help.”

Regarding “strengths and weaknesses,” he promised to “speak to my father and realize this company's dreams.”

The son also lied in another application that he had graduated from Yong In University in March 2018, even though he had transferred to another school and dropped out later.

In response to the media report, Kim apologized for his son's wrongdoings, saying that the acts were unacceptable, but the senior secretary also explained that his son had been receiving treatment for anxiety as well as compulsive behavior.

The son did not get the jobs he applied for, and the Cheong Wa Dae official also added that the senior Kim had never been involved in the application processes.

Since his inauguration in May 2017, President Moon has appointed five senior secretaries for civil affairs but, other than Cho Kuk who stayed in the position for more than two years, the rest of them stepped down after short tenures amid various controversies.

Although Cho did not resign due to a controversy, but rather left the post to be appointed as justice minister, he was also embroiled in a scandal over he and his wife allegedly exercising influence and fabricating academic documents to help their children gain admission to prestigious universities. Trials related to these allegations are still ongoing.

Kim Jo-won, who replaced Cho, left Cheong Wa Dae one year after his appointment in the face of criticism for his ownership of multiple properties, which went against the government's policy goals of containing speculative home buying and stabilizing the housing market. Instead of following the presidential office's instructions to sell one of his two homes, he quit the post and kept the properties.

Kim Jong-ho and Shin Hyun-soo, Moon's third and fourth senior secretaries for civil affairs, also stayed in the post for four and two months, respectively, amid a feud between the government and the prosecution.

With Moon's term ending in five months, it is highly unlikely for him to pick a new replacement soon. Lee Ki-heon, the secretary for civil affairs and justice, is expected to serve as an acting senior secretary.