Active politicians should not be appointed as ministers ahead of local elections

South Korea President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s appointment of the candidates for the minister of Justice and the minister of the Interior and Safety is emerging as a key issue of appointments to form the cabinet. The minister of Justice and the minister of the Interior and Safety are important positions that lead inspection agencies, such as the police and the prosecution. In addition, the president-elect said the chief of the National Police Agency will be promoted from the vice-minister level to the minister level. Furthermore, according to the abolition of the Office of Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs, much of its functions will be transferred to the minister of Justice. As the two positions’ status becomes stronger, candidates are having a competition behind the curtains and some active and former National Assembly members are spreading rumors.

The minister of Justice and the minister of the Interior and Safety are also in charge of elections. The positions require a higher level of fairness and political neutrality than any other ministers. However, the Moon Jae-in administration had prominent pro-Moon members of the ruling party in the positions during the recent presidential election campaign, causing issues of unfairness. In particular, Minister of Justice Park Beom-kye made a comment implying guidelines on the investigations of the presidential candidates of the ruling and main opposition parties and was under criticism by the opposition party. In order to remove the possibility of controversy over unfairness and favoritism ahead of local elections that are taking place for the first time since the change of the administration, those who served as politicians should not be appointed to the position.

In particular, the People Power Party repeatedly urged the Moon Jae-in administration to form an election-neutral cabinet for the fair management of the presidential election. The key to an election-neutral cabinet was replacing the pro-Moon minister of Justice and the minister of the Interior and Safety. The party should not change its stance overnight just because they are a ruling party soon. President-elect Yoon who served as Prosecutor General knows more than anybody about the issues caused by the appointment of a figure with a political background to the minister of Justice.

The ruling and opposition parties are sharply confronting each other with local elections less than two months away. If the parties collide with each other over the issue of fairness of local elections after the Yoon Suk-yeol administration launches, the political situation will be inevitably crippled. The policies to be proactively pursued by the new administration will face issues. Some insiders say that it is okay to have ministers with a political background as long as they keep political neutrality but it’s not that simple. There is no need to plant a seed of political controversy when appointing the minister of Justice and the minister of the Interior and Safety.