Park Ji-won says cabinet reshuffle vetting flawed, urges Lee to address personnel issues at press conference

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Ji-won said Wednesday that the Lee administration's latest cabinet reshuffle raises questions about the vetting process, and called on President Lee Jae Myung to address personnel issues directly at his press conference scheduled for Friday.

Speaking on YTN Radio's "Jang Seong-cheol's News Myeongdang," Park was asked to assess the confirmation hearings for the new cabinet nominees. "Every single person who appeared at these hearings had some kind of flaw," he said, adding that the president should use the upcoming press conference to speak to the public about the personnel problems. The press conference is set for Friday.

Park also expressed reservations about Kim Ji-yong, the nominee for director of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency. "At first I was told he was a decent person and said he seemed like someone who could do the job — but after looking into the details, I came to think he should not be confirmed," he said.

However, Park urged restraint toward Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae, who had publicly criticized the nomination. "Governor Choo is the Gyeonggi governor — she is both a politician and a civil servant," Park said. "It was not right for her to publicly level sharp criticism at the president's appointment authority."

On Kim Seung-won, the nominee for justice minister whose confirmation hearing concluded Tuesday, Park reaffirmed his view that Kim should be appointed. He described the hearing as "much ado about nothing," saying it was "loud but ended with just a mouse scurrying past."

Suggesting the opposition had failed to land a decisive blow against the nominee, Park said, "I have brought down nine nominees at hearings myself. I knocked them out by landing a clear, unmovable hit. If you could not pin down a decisive wrongdoing, is that not a failure on your part?"

He again stressed that Kim should be appointed, saying the hearing was "all noise and nothing." He did, however, take issue with the Democratic Party's decision not to call witnesses at the hearing. "I do not think that was necessarily the right call," he said. "It was not handled smoothly."

Park also said President Lee should use the press conference to address controversies surrounding constitutional reform and the withdrawal of criminal charges. "Many people have a lot of questions, so it would be good for the president to clear the air," he said. "I think it would be best for him to speak honestly and humbly."

On the dropped-charges issue in particular, Park said that while he initially found the allegations far-fetched, "if so many people now harbor doubts about it, then addressing those concerns honestly and humbly is exactly what the president should do."

He added that beyond constitutional reform, the dropped charges and personnel matters, "the biggest issues are the livelihoods of ordinary people and housing for those in their 20s and 30s." He said he hoped the president would engage more deeply on those issues and present concrete proposals.