Surprising nominees for key Cabinet posts

President-elect Park Geun-hye on Wednesday announced the nominees to head the education, foreign affairs, justice, defense, public safety and home affairs, and culture, sports and tourism ministries. All of the nominees are longtime professionals in their respective fields. Considering that five nominees except Defense Minister-designate Kim Byung-kwan are former bureaucrats who joined the government through the high-level civil service exam, the nominations are believed to stress professionalism and stability and perhaps reflects the president-elect’s personnel philosophy of choosing “people who are trustworthy and dependable.” The ethics of the nominees will be verified through confirmation hearings, but they are generally considered eligible in qualifications and capacity as leaders who will spearhead their respective fields.

Wednesday`s announcement was the first about the next Cabinet, which is not related to parliamentary deliberation of the planned government reorganization. The president-elect, however, is advised to speed up the nominations of the foreign and defense ministers in light of the national security crisis caused by North Korea’s nuclear test this week. The unification minister has yet to be nominated, but the line-up of top officials who will oversee the next government’s diplomatic and national security policy jointly with Kim Jang-soo, who has been nominated to head the National Security Council, has been effectively formed. Foreign Minister-designate Yun Byung-se, Defense Minister-nominee Kim and Kim Jang-soo should exert every effort to smoothly learn their tasks and take over duties to prevent a security vacuum.

Unusual would be the appropriate word to describe the unprecedented nominations of the education and culture ministers from ex-bureaucrats who worked in the two ministries, rather than external figures such as professors or politicians. This is, however, a positive move in that they can easily take control of their organizations and use their ample administrative experience, but how reformative they will be is uncertain. The nomination of Education Minister-designate Seo Nam-soo is fueling speculation given that he was a key aide to former Education Minister Lee Hae-chan under the Kim Dae-jung administration and vice education minister under the succeeding Roh Moo-hyun administration, which ignored excellence in education and autonomy of universities.

The nomination of Hwang Kyo-ahn as justice minister seems to reflect the next president’s view of national security and administration since he is an expert in public security. Hwang should strongly push for prosecutorial reform to ensure that the prosecution will be reborn as an organization that properly establishes rule of law but with the people`s trust.

Another surprise is the nomination of Rep. Yoo Jeong-bok, a key member of the pro-Park faction in the ruling party, as public safety and home affairs minister, and that four of the Cabinet nominees were top officials under the Roh administration. Competence and qualification should trump whether someone is a pro-Park politician or served as a top official under a previous administration. The president-elect, however, should nominate figures who command public recognition for the sake of public unity and novelty when nominating other ministers.

Not so good is the delay in the nomination of presidential secretaries, including the chief of staff, and 11 other minister posts, including that for the Strategy and Finance Ministry. Considering the schedules for public hearings, the incoming administration is finding it hard to smoothly set sail timed with the Feb. 25 inauguration. Even so, President-elect Park should speed up the nomination process to the extent possible. The National Assembly should also accelerate deliberation of the bill on government reorganization. Opposition parties should be meticulous in deliberating on the bill and verify the eligibility of prime minister and Cabinet minister nominees, but must also give consideration and extend cooperation to ensure a smooth launch of the new administration.