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This undated file photo shows Rhee Chang-yong, President Moon Jae-in’s pick to head the Bank of Korea. (Yonhap News)

On Wednesday, President Moon Jae-in nominated Rhee Chang-yong (62), Director of the Asia and Pacific Department at the International Monetary Fund to head the Bank of Korea (BOK) after incumbent Lee Ju-yeol’s term ends on March 31. While the Blue House reported that the decision was made “after receiving input from President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol,” those on Yoon’s side claim they were never consulted. Already at loggerheads over the relocation of the presidential office, the two sides are now engaged in a battle for the truth over the appointment of the new BOK governor, suggesting that the stand-off between outgoing and incoming power is growing in intensity rather than subsiding.

Park Soo-hyun, the Blue House senior secretary for public communications, announced Rhee’s nomination at an emergency briefing held at 12:10 pm on Wednesday.

“Rhee is an economic and financial expert who has worked as a professor at Seoul National University’s Department of Economics and chief economist at the Asian Development Bank. He is well-versed in theory, policy and practical matters in the fields of domestic and international economics and monetary policy,” Park said. “Drawing on his wealth of insight and experience across all aspects of economics, fiscal matters and finance, as well as his global sense and network, we hope that Mr. Rhee will contribute to stabilizing inflation and financial markets through effective and robust monetary policy that responds to economic and financial conditions both at home and abroad.”

Regarding the background to Rhee’s nomination, a high-ranking official from the Blue House said, “To minimize the vacancy [in the BOK governor position], we received input from the president-elect before announcing our nominee.” With agreement already obtained from Yoon, it appears the announcement of Rhee’s nomination Wednesday was made in consideration of upcoming procedures such as a confirmation hearing in the National Assembly.

However, directly after the announcement, officials close to Yoon claimed they had “not been involved in discussions with the Blue House or made any recommendations.” Chang Je-won, who serves as Yoon’s chief of staff and manages communication with the Blue House, told reporters, “[The senior secretary for political affairs, Lee Cheol-hee,] asked, ‘What do you think of Rhee Chang-yong?’ and I said ‘He’s a fine person,’ but they never received a reply from the president-elect. They claimed to have discussed the matter with us without any proper communication.” The Blue House and Yoon’s camp appear to have diametrically opposed views on the nature of discussions regarding the nomination of Rhee.

Two weeks have passed since Korea’s 20th presidential election, but this confrontation will only serve to deepen the conflict between the incoming and outgoing administrations. The latest clash comes over a sensitive personnel issue at a time when the divide over Yoon’s plan to relocate the presidential office has still not been resolved, with both sides unable to even arrange a time to meet.

The upcoming nomination of successors for two members of the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea (BAI) is likely to become another trigger for conflict between the outgoing and incoming presidents. The People Power Party claims that candidates favorable to the Moon Jae-in administration had been nominated to replace BAI members whose tenure ended between October last year and March this year.

An official from Yoon’s camp stated, “Purporting to appoint a person who only worked [with President Moon] for a few days and then leaving is a holdout strategy,” adding, “I can’t erase the suspicion that this [nomination of BAI members] underscores everything this administration has done.”

By Lee Wan, staff reporter; Kim Mi-na, staff reporter

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