Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
| Kim Young-sik, new presidential senior secretary for civil affairs / Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae |
According to Cheong Wa Dae, Monday, Moon has appointed Kim, 55, as his new senior secretary for civil affairs, replacing Kim Jin-kook, who resigned last month amid reports that his son attempted to use his father's influence to gain employment.
The new senior secretary worked as a lawyer at law firm Lee & Ko and served as Moon's secretary for legal affairs from May 2019 to April last year. Before that he was a judge at local courts in Incheon and Gwangju.
"The new senior secretary has experience serving as legal affairs secretary, thus he has a high understanding of the Moon government's policy philosophy," senior presidential secretary for public communication Park Soo-hyun said. "We expect Kim to use his expertise to serve his role of tightening discipline among government officials, wrapping up state tasks and leading reformation."
With the President appointing the 55-year-old former judge as his new civil affairs secretary to oversee the country's inspection agencies, none of Moon's civil affair secretaries have any background as prosecutors, other than Shin Hyun-soo who served for just two months early last year.
This is in line with Moon's drive to reform the prosecution throughout his tenure. Since the inauguration of his government, Moon has been pushing this idea, mostly appointing those who have no experience in prosecution as his senior civil affairs secretaries.
Of five senior civil affairs secretaries appointed before Kim, four had to step down after serving short tenures amid controversies. Cho Kuk, who was Moon's first senior civil affairs secretary, stayed in the position for just over two years, but is now on trial for corruption allegations involving his family members after he was appointed justice minister for a brief time.
Cho's successor, Kim Jo-won, left the position due to a controversy over his real estate assets after serving for slightly over a year. Kim Jong-ho, who became the third senior civil affairs secretary, left the position after four months, and Shin left the presidential office after serving two months, as the two faced criticisms over their failure to manage the conflicts between the prosecution and the presidential office.
