The article was originally published by Maeil Business Newspaper and translated by OKN Correspondent.
Ministers under the Moon Jae-in administration who were previously politicians reportedly conveyed their intention to resign en masse to the presidential Blue House before the start of the new administration. The intention is to avoid inconvenient cohabitation with the new government, but it is predicted that the Yoon Suk-yeol administration could face the worst situation – launching without ministers due to the disruption of confirmation hearings for Prime Minister Nominee Han Duck-soo. In this case, there are some people who speculate that current Prime Minister Kim Book-kyum could recommend and nominate some ministers to prevent an administrative vacuum, or that the new government might begin with a deputy minister-level system.
According to the Democratic Party of Korea (DP), Blue House, and others on April 27, politicians turned ministers under the Moon administration reportedly conveyed their intention to resign before the beginning of the new government on May 10. A total of seven former DP lawmakers are now ministers under the Moon administration, including Yoo Eun-hye, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, Park Bum-gye, Minister of Justice, Jeon Hae-chul, Minister of Interior and Safety, Lee In-young, Minister of Unification, Han Jeong-ae, Minister of Environment, Kwon Chil-seung, Minister of SMEs and Startups, and Hwang Hee, Minister of Culture. “Working under President Yoon after his inauguration makes no sense, so it is a natural step,” an official from the DP said. It is a normal procedure for ministers from the outgoing administration to submit their resignations during the transition period.
The problem is that it is impossible to promise when the Prime Minister, who has the right to recommend the appointment of new ministers, will be able to take office. According to the National Assembly, the hearing for Prime Minister Nominee Han was postponed to the 2nd or 3rd of next month after a setback the previous day. “We accept the [postponement] as a decision of the National Assembly and the people,” Han told reporters while on his way to the office of the hearing preparation team in central Seoul. “We will try to prepare better and have a better hearing.”
There is a chance that some of the ministerial candidates nominated by President-elect Yoon will likely fail in their confirmation hearings. The upcoming government may face the worst situation in which the government is inaugurated with a large number of Cabinet members’ seats vacant without the approval of the new prime minister.
There also are concerns that it may be difficult for the new prime minister to exercise the right to recommend candidates for the new cabinet as the parliamentary confirmation hearing on Han has passed the legal deadline.
“They are intentionally dragging this out,” said Kwon Sung-dong, floor leader of the PPP, during a meeting earlier in the day. “It is obvious why they are boycotting the hearing. They are trying to deal with the bill to completely abolish the prosecution’s investigative powers first, which is a serious problem for them.” Kwon added that the “delay in the confirmation hearing for the prime minister is a problem but on top of that, there are many committees that cannot even schedule hearings for ministerial candidates.” He added, “If the DP continues to use delaying tactics, it will inevitably disrupt the management of the new government.”
Some politicians even speculate that the DP may continue this deliberate tug-of-war until August when the party’s national convention is held unless the PPP gives up on the nomination of Han Dong-hoon as the new Justice Minister.
Attention is focusing on whether current Prime Minister Kim will exercise his right to recommend the ministers for the new government to minimize the administrative vacuum in the early days of the new administration if it becomes difficult for candidate Han to recommend candidates. Prime Minister Kim reportedly does not think negatively about this idea.
An official from the Prime Minister’s Office said, “Prime Minister Kim believes that there should be no gaps or disruptions in the management of state affairs with the launch of the new government,” adding, “If necessary, there is a possibility of exercising the right to make recommendations two to three days after the inauguration.” In this case, it is expected that the deadline for Kim to recommend ministerial candidates for their confirmation hearings will be around May 13, three days after the inauguration.
“There are some people who are starting to say that the new government should take a deputy minister-level system if it launches without appointing a Prime Minister and other ministers,” an official from the PPP said.
