hankyoreh

May 28. The empty chair next to Park is meant for the Prime Minister. (by Lee Jeong-yong

Ahn Dae-hee stepped down as nominee for prime minister, bowing to heated public condemnation following reports that the former Supreme Court justice had been given special treatment by the courts after starting a private practice, earning him the outrageous sum of 10 million won (US$9,789) a day.

Emphasizing the fact that he had donated 300 million won, Ahn vowed to return to society the 1.1 billion won (US$1.08 million) he had accumulated since starting a private law practice, but he failed to sway the public’s hearts, which were set against him.

In fact, his appeal only made things worse for him. The discovery that he made his donation after being nominated for prime minister provoked criticism that he had tried use his money to buy the position.

The Blue House bears a considerable share of the blame for the nominee for prime minister being discomfited for an unsavory past even before the confirmation hearing at the National Assembly. It is doubtful whether President Park Geun-hye and her advisors at the Blue House are willing or even to discern the hearts of the public. The Blue House’s absurd belief that a former judge accused of being treated like an emperor after his retirement was the ideal person to crack down on the “government mafia” leaves us speechless.

It is not even clear whether the Blue House thoroughly vetted Ahn as a nominee. If they failed to uncover the issue of his outrageous compensation, this was either ineptitude or dereliction of duty. But if the Blue House decided to nominate him with the full knowledge of the special treatment that he had received, this is a much bigger problem.

Given that the first hurdle in vetting a candidate is their assets, it is very likely that the Blue House was aware of the issue of Ahn’s high earnings. For the Blue House to have nominated Ahn anyway means that it did not believe that this would be a major issue during the confirmation process. In other words, the nominee for prime minister was assessed according to the peculiar standards of Blue House advisors, which are out of sync with the sentiments of the public.

The inevitable conclusion is that there is something seriously wrong with the advising process at the Blue House. As the officials immediately responsible for vetting the nominee, Blue House Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon and Civil Affairs Secretary Hong Kyung-shik surely deserve some of the blame.

But it is needless to say that, in such a situation, the person who deserves the greatest share of the blame is President Park. The next prime minister is the figure who must stand in the vanguard of efforts to correct the social ills that were unveiled by the Sewol tragedy. Given this, it would only have been appropriate to thoroughly review the ability, character, and past deeds of someone before nominating them.

And considering that Chung Hong-won continues to serve as acting prime minister, there was not really any need to rush the nomination of his successor. Park nominated Ahn for prime minister on May 22, which happened to be the official beginning of campaigning in the June 4 municipal elections.

It is no exaggeration to call this a disastrous nomination brought on by a rushed vetting process carried out with the election in mind. We wish that Park would recognize that, as long as she does not change her basic philosophy of running the country, we are sure to see more botched appointments such as this.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]