Moon plans to fill cabinet with persons recommended by the public

Moon plans to fill cabinet with persons recommended by the public. April. 29, 2017 07:07. by Keun-Hyung Yoo noel@donga.com.

The campaign committee (government unity committee) of Moon Jae-in, the presidential candidate of the Minjoo Party, announced on Friday that Moon plans to form his cabinet with persons recommended by the public to establish an integrated government.

Rep. Park Young-sun, a co-chair of the committee, held a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Yeouido and provided basic principles on the formation of unity government and they are: full consultations between the president and the party, guarantee the prime minister’s right to recommend members of the cabinet, implementation of the public recommendation for people working for the president via local media and the Internet.

Rep. Park said that the committee would not directly engage in the cabinet appointments but provide a standard of personnel. The co-chair also said that the cabinet should be filled with people who can greatly contribute to establish an integrated government by appointing persons whoever pursue the line of reformative conservatism and rational liberalism.

The integrated government will not be an alliance among parties, like a coalition cabinet, said Moon’s campaign. Moon intends to join forces with reformists and liberals in the People’s Party and the Justice Party that cooperated with the Minjoo Party for the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye in legislation and policy making process. “The party would not give up the possibility of uniting with the People’s Party as we have the same root,” the co-chair said.

Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate for the People’s Party, also announced his vision of a "reformative joint government" on that day. "Ahn claims that prime minister should be appointed upon the National Assembly’s recommendation. But it is nothing more than a confirmation of natural conclusion," said the Minjoo Party's committee co-chair Byun Jae-il. “Ahn’s saying of a coalition of anti-hegemonic forces is just another name of a coalition of deep-rooted evil.”

However, some lawmakers in the party tried to check the principles on the formation of a new government specific enough to be laid out by the president transition team as Moon’s campaign committee was largely led by members who is against Moon. “The committee’s plans are not fully discussed yet in the party. Their suggestions are just an option among many alternatives," a person related to the party said. "We will discuss altogether with other unity plans submitted by other committees of the party.”