Park haunted by suspicion on PM nominee

President-elect Park Geun-hye, right, speaks during a meeting on the economy at the transition team office in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, Sunday. At left is Kim Yong-joon, transition team head and Park’s nomination for prime minister. Korea Times photo by Ryu Hyo-jin

President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team seems desperate to press for the nomination of Kim Yong-joon as the first prime minister of the incoming government, despite growing suspicion surrounding Kim’s property and two sons’ exemption from military service.

The team is seeking to call on the ruling and opposition parties soon for their cooperation toward that end, as Park will likely face a severe setback unless she succeeds in getting Kim to the office of premier.

The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) is poised to thoroughly scrutinize his credentials over rumored lingering questions about the nominee.

The move comes amid expectations that Kim would be no more a safe candidate who can easily pass the Assembly’s confirmation hearing.

Political watchers say the Assembly’s approval of the first prime minister is an uncompromising issue for the President-elect as it could potentially affect the appointment of Cabinet members for the incoming government.

In order to secure the motion regarding the appointment to be passed at the Assembly, the team plans to hold a meeting with members of the ruling party to discuss the issue at the National Assembly.

Kim Yong-joon, who doubles as the chairman of the transition committee and the prime minister nominee, will participate in the meeting, along with the vice chairman Chin Young, Park’s chief secretary Yoo Il-ho and the chief of the political affairs team Lee Jung-hyun.

The leadership of the ruling party, including Chairman Hwang Woo-yea and floor leader Lee Hahn-koo, will also take part in the meeting.

The DUP has already signaled its intentions to scrutinize Kim’s credentials.

“A thorough verification is needed to check if Kim is a qualified person who can unify the nation and manage the state’s affairs,” said Rep. Moon Hee-sang, interim leader of the DUP at the emergency committee meeting, Friday.

The five-term lawmaker added that it is imperative to establish whether or not the principle of the separation of powers will be contravened if a person, who resigned as president of the Constitutional Court, assumes the post of prime minister.

In 1993, Kim, then justice of the Supreme Court, reported that his total family assets were valued at 2.98 billion won ($2.8 million), then the highest of all previous chief justices. His sons, who were by then in their 20s, together possessed about 2.1 billion won.

It later turned out that the two sons acquired the said properties at the age of seven and eight, prompting the opposition to raise red flags.

The DUP will also likely attack the exemption of his two sons from the mandatory military service, one of the most sensitive issues in the nation.

The first son was exempted because he was underweight in 1989, while the second son was excused in 1994 because he had gout.

Some further questioned Kim’s historical perspective referring to rulings he made in 1996. At the time, he opposed the special law to punish former presidents, Chun Doo-hwan and Rho Tae-woo who were responsible for both the military coups and the Gwangju massacre. He was quoted as saying their actions constituted “limited” violation of the Constitution as it was against the principle of non-retroactive criminal punishment.

Regarding such suspicions, Kim was quoted by the prime minister’s office as saying, “I want the office to prepare all relevant documents to ascertain the truth at the confirmation hearing.”

The office said in its press release that there is no illegality in two sons’ exemption from the military service. As for the property that his sons have possessed, the office said those were what Kim’s mother bought for her grand children, adding that further document examination will be needed to check whether or not they paid the gift tax.

Kim will face his first confirmation hearing around the Lunar New Year holidays. There were no confirmation hearings at the time of his appointment as Supreme Court justice in 1988 and as president of the Constitutional Court in 1994. <The Korea Times/Jun Ji-hye>