[Choice Times=Byung-Tae Kim, Staff Reporter ]

On the night of December 2, the news agency Newspim photographed and reported the mobile phone screen of Rep. Moon Jin-seok of the Democratic Party while he was exchanging Telegram messages with Kim Nam-guk, Presidential Office Secretary for Digital Communications, during a plenary session of the National Assembly.

The message contained a request to recommend Mr. Hong, a fellow alumnus from Chung-Ang University, for the presidency of the Korea Automobile Mobility Industry Association (KAMA).

Rep. Moon wrote,“Nam-guk, Hong ○○ is our junior from Chung-Ang University, and he served as spokesperson during the president’s bid for governor, and also as a headquarters director at the association, so I think he is qualified to serve as chairman. If I recommend him, Chief Secretary Kang Hoon-sik will oppose it, so you go ahead and recommend him.”

Secretary Kim replied,“Yes, hyung. I will recommend him to Hoon-sik hyung and to Hyun-ji nuna.”
Rep. Moon and Secretary Kim, like President Lee Jae-myung, are alumni of Chung-Ang University.

Regarding this, Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok said,“The very fact that a Chung-Ang alumnus is being recommended by Rep. Moon, also from Chung-Ang University, to Secretary Kim, also from Chung-Ang University, through an improper channel, to be delivered to the president, also a Chung-Ang alumnus, shows just how cartelized personnel appointments have become under this administration.”

He continued, stating that the appearance of Kim Hyun-ji, Secretary to the President, was “completely out of place,” adding:
“She moved from the position of Secretary for General Affairs to Secretary to the President to avoid questioning ahead of the audit, yet now it is revealed that she is wielding even greater power.”

Lee added,“The sweetest thing in the world is unmonitored power, and unmonitored power—when intoxicating to shadow figures—has toppled administrations.”

Below is the full text of Lee Jun-seok’s post on social media:

[Full Statement by Lee Jun-seok]

The Telegram messages exchanged between Rep. Moon Jin-seok and Secretary Kim Nam-guk show exactly how the personnel system of the Lee Jae-myung administration is breaking down.

It is natural that people connected through school ties or regional ties know each other well. However, the very fact that an alumnus of Chung-Ang University is being sent through an improper route—from Rep. Moon of Chung-Ang University, to Secretary Kim of Chung-Ang University, so that it can reach the president, also of Chung-Ang University—reveals how cartelized this administration’s appointments have become.

Rep. Moon himself wrote, “If I recommend him, Chief Secretary Kang Hoon-sik will oppose it, so you go ahead and recommend him.”

Knowing that the official channel would block the recommendation, they chose a private Chung-Ang University network as a detour.

Moreover, the position being lobbied for is a prestigious one: the chairmanship of KAMA, whose members include major automakers such as Hyundai, Kia, Renault Korea, and others.

Yet the individual being pushed has no real connection to the automobile industry, apart from briefly holding a vice chairman role—presumably in charge of venue operations—at another association.

The chairmanship is typically held by someone with senior experience at a leading domestic automaker or a government official from the Ministry of Industry with expertise in the field. To entrust such a position affecting the future of the Korean automobile industry to someone whose background is political campaign work and political science is as misaligned as President Lee appointing a lawyer as UN ambassador. And regardless of past customs, the Presidential Office has no authority to recommend or designate a candidate for an external association.

What is especially serious is the appearance of Secretary Kim Hyun-ji’s name in this context.

Secretary Kim Nam-guk wrote: “I’ll recommend him to Hoon-sik hyung and Hyun-ji nuna.”

Kim Hyun-ji has been by President Lee’s side for 28 years. Inside the Presidential Office, there is a saying: “Everything goes through Hyun-ji”—‘Man-sa-hyun-tong.’

It was reported this July that she personally called Minister-designate Kang Sun-woo to convey her withdrawal request. When allegations arose that Kim Hyun-ji was widely intervening in state affairs, she shifted from Secretary for General Affairs to Secretary to the President—avoiding direct questioning while wielding even greater authority.

This time, it has been revealed that she continues to exercise power without being subject to scrutiny.

The sweetest thing in the world is unmonitored power, and shadow figures intoxicated by such power have toppled past administrations—Choi Soon-sil and Kim Keon-hee, for example. The public is now becoming strongly convinced that unmonitored power exists within the Lee Jae-myung administration as well.

Appoint a Special Inspector. Appoint someone the President would find uncomfortable, someone Secretary Kim Hyun-ji would fear. If the President nominates one capable prosecutor—whom he considers hostile and intimidating—to this role, we will finally see some discipline restored to public service.

Some claim on broadcast that Kim Hyun-ji serves as a Red Team. This is absurd. Let’s speak clearly: Kim Hyun-ji is not the Red Team. The Red Team is supposed to catch people like Kim Hyun-ji.

#PoliticalAppointmentsScandal #PowerWithoutOversight #LeeJaeMyungAdministration