Lax Discipline of Cheong Wa Dae

Cheong Wa Dae has held a meeting of a disciplinary committee Wednesday in order to deal with an incident in which the photos of senior officials of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) were leaked, but it only ended up disputing over the scope and severity of discipline.

The presidential office dismissed the cameraman responsible for the incident from the office but failed to reach an agreement on what to do with the presidential public affairs officials.

Moreover, Cheong Wa Dae officials are embarrassed with lax discipline as the members of the presidential taskforce for farming and fishing villages inspected the Saemangum area on a fire helicopter with their families even before the photo incident quieted down.

“It is unthinkable for someone to get on a public helicopter with the family,” said an official. “I was surprised that it is not only inexperienced Cheong Wa Dae officials but also a director of the Ministry of Construction and Transportation who are involved in the case,” he added.

It is interpreted that a series of incidents derived from lax discipline are attributed to the system that has yet to take root since the president took office, rather than abrupt behavior of individuals.

President Roh Moo-hyun has always tried to be against authoritarianism. Some point out, however, that presidential officials have interpreted the president`s purpose wrong, thereby making Cheong Wa Dae a looser organization. Therefore, the president decided to establish public discipline at a meeting with the entire presidential officials on July 2, indicating his will to narrow the gap of perception.

Another cause of the incidents is that nobody has been taken care of the operations inside Cheong Wa Dae, which presidential secretaries were previously responsible for, as the presidential office was divided into three parts made up of national policy, affairs and the National Security Council (NSC).

In addition, some say that among the advisers to the president there were a number of those who lack experience and were former student activists. “They say the incidents were merely accidents that happened in the course of new members getting used to the organization, but it seems that basically their qualities are questionable,” a presidential official made a cynical remark.

Meanwhile, Grand National Party General Secretary Kim Young-il criticized that it was more problematic that the presidential office and powerful figures were the main culprit of the crisis. “The national management of the current government is like a pendulum,” he said. GNP Assistant Spokesman Bae Yong-see urged that the government discipline those responsible and the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) inspect them.

Young-Hae Choi yhchoi65@donga.com