PR Office’s Recommendation Confirmed

Jeon Hae-chul, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, concerning the dismissal of Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Yoo Jin-ryong, said, on August 16, “Lee Baek-man, senior presidential secretary for public information, did recommend a person known as K for the post of vice president of Arirang TV.”

He said in the press conference held at Cheong Wa Dae, “[The personnel deliberation] was started with Mr. Lee’s recommendation of K. But some people disagreed on naming K to the post. So one of the secretaries (Yang Jung-chul, presidential secretary for policy planning) told an insider in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism about the recommendation.”

Regarding the reason for firing Mr. Yoo, Secretary Jeon said, “As I was informed many times that the management of the Korea Newspaper Circulation Service was not going well, I asked about this to around 10 insiders in the Ministry of Planning and Budget, the MCT, the Korea Newspaper Circulation Service, and Cheong Wa Dae around mid-June. I found out Mr. Yoo was responsible for the mismanagement of the agency.”

Asked about why Yoo stepped down from office instead of the minister of the MCT, he replied, “Since Minister Kim Myung-gon was appointed to the post in March, he was not responsible for the mismanagement.” But Yoo was named to the position only a month earlier in February. The remarks from Cheong Wa Dae in the conference were its first revelation on why Yoo had been dismissed from the position. On August 16, this paper criticized (on the A5 page) Cheong Wa Dae for its unjustifiable excuses on several issues made behind the scenes. Senior Secretary Lee and Secretary Yang, who, according to Yoo, recommended K to the post, were not present at the press conference.

jyw11@donga.com