President Lee holds private dinner with Jung Chung-rae in apparent bid to soothe hardliners; PPP says nomination was approved only after three weeks of dithering

Kim Ji-yong, nominee for inaugural Serious Crimes Investigation Agency director, takes questions from reporters as he arrives at his office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Sept. 17. [Yonhap]
Kim Ji-yong, nominee for inaugural Serious Crimes Investigation Agency director, takes questions from reporters as he arrives at his office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Sept. 17. [Yonhap]

As Cheong Wa Dae moves toward formally appointing Kim Ji-yong as the inaugural director of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, the ruling camp has shifted its focus to calming hardliners within the Democratic Party of Korea who oppose the nomination — while the opposition People Power Party has seized on what it calls a dangerously unprepared transition of the criminal justice system.

Democratic Party lawmaker Song Young-gil said on MBC Radio on Friday that repeated criticism of Kim from within the party had gone too far. "I think the criticism is excessive," Song said. "If President Lee Jae-myung has vetted the nominee that thoroughly and decided to appoint him, we should at least respect that decision."

Song also drew a lesson from past administrations. "During the Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in governments, we often appointed people who did not know prosecutors well as justice minister or as the presidential chief of staff for civil affairs," he said. "Because of that, they had no real understanding of the prosecution's inner workings and just pushed paper — and that is why prosecutorial reform never got done properly."

Also drawing attention is a private dinner President Lee held Thursday at his Cheong Wa Dae office with Jung Chung-rae, the former Democratic Party leader. Political circles have interpreted the meeting as an attempt to reassure hardliners. Jung did not post anything on his Facebook page about the encounter.

Hardliners in the party have continued to voice their opposition. Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae wrote on Facebook on Thursday that she had visited a restaurant on a recommendation only to find the hygiene was a mess and the staff unfriendly — an apparent metaphor for Kim. "It is right to warn the people I care about so they do not suffer the same disappointment," she wrote. "The same goes for people." Lawmaker Kim Yong-min was more direct, asking: "After liberation, we created a special committee to investigate pro-Japanese collaborators — what would we do if we appointed a collaborator as its chairman? It is wrong to put the very target of reform in a position meant to carry it out."

Even so, some voices within the party are urging that the National Assembly confirmation hearing move quickly. Lawmaker Yun Geon-young, a member of the Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, said the process should not drag on. "We should either hold the hearing quickly to address public concerns, or make a decision if there are real problems — either way, we need to move to that stage fast," he said.

The People Power Party has sharpened its attacks amid the ruling party's internal divisions. PPP chief spokesperson Park Chung-kwon said in a statement Friday that the positions of justice minister, Korean National Police Agency commissioner, public prosecution chief and Serious Crimes Investigation Agency director are all vacant. "President Lee spent more than three weeks watching the Democratic Party's hardliners before approving the confirmation hearing request for Kim just one day before the agency's launch," Park said.

"The state of readiness is even more alarming," Park added. "The institutional framework is hollow, and even prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers have been stripped away. President Lee and the Democratic Party, who have set the national system back and abandoned the public's livelihood, must be held accountable."


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