Ministerial nominee's complaint over confirmation hearings

The late President Kim Young-sam appointed Yoon Yeo-joon, senior presidential secretary for public affairs, as environmental minister in August 1997. But Yoon declined the president’s offer by insisting that he was short on professional experience. Then, Kim persuaded his secretary, by saying, “I was troubled by hiring professionals as they only knew about their fields of experience and always argued with other ministries. I had difficult times because of that.” Kim Kwang-woong, former chairman of the Civil Service Commission, wrote in his book “Creative Leadership,” that a minister should be both a generalist and specialist, which means that he or she should be equipped with expertise and also take a general stance on comprehensive issues.

It seemed that the verification and background checks of minister candidates are partly turned into harsh tailing of personal information. However, the National Assembly’s confirmation hearings are the only way to distinguish the right person from the ones with poor judgment. A company that is owned both by the government and the public is like a public pasture land that no one claims the ownership. So many devastated public lands can be found all over the country, as politicians and government officials seized. Nevertheless, senior government officials resist temptation in consideration of the National Assembly’s confirmation hearings, which is positive for our society.

Incoming Agriculture Minister Kim Jae-soo was asked many questions, and doubts were raised during the confirmation hearings. He posted on the social networking service of his alma mater, Kyungpook National University, claiming that such doubts were raised as he was born into a local area and graduated from a local university. He expressed his will to take legal actions. Most people, however, did not even know that he was graduated from Kyungpook National University. Also, people will hardly agree on the saying that Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, the political foundation of the incumbent president, is a rural area that is being ignored. If he really thought so, he should have taken a hard stance on that issue in the hearings.

"The qualifications for a minister should include circumstantial judgement, vision, political influence, professionalism, organizational management skills, and public spirit," said Yonsei University Professor Ahn Byung-young, who served as education minister under the administrations of former Presidents Kim Young-sam and Roh Moo-hyun. It seems that Kim fails to understand the biggest flaw as people think it is. Kim is certain to have been benefited from government official positions no matter how small they are. If he apologized for all issued raised during the hearing and asked for support, controversies surrounding him could have been disappeared.