'Don't use my appointment of him as grounds for trust,' Choo says
Governor rebuffs Lee's invocation of her tenure in defending nominee
Ruling camp feud over pick persists as agency launches, confirmation hearings begin
Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae publicly criticized Kim Ji-yong, the nominee to lead the newly established Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, for a second time, calling him someone who could "turn his back on the people and justice at any moment." The rebuke came after President Lee Jae Myung pushed back against claims from within the ruling camp that Kim was a loyalist of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, citing among other things that Choo had promoted Kim to chief prosecutor during her tenure as justice minister. Choo rejected that reasoning.
In a Facebook post late Friday, Choo wrote that Kim was someone who could "turn his back on the people and justice at any moment," and questioned why he was being appointed as "the captain of a ship setting sail with a mission of reform."
She then said Kim was "entirely unfit" to lead the agency, which she said must overcome the insurrection at a time when "the prosecutorial forces that shook the constitutional order through insurrection have not even been fully investigated."
The Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, which takes over the prosecution's direct investigative functions, officially launched Friday. On the same day, President Lee approved the request to begin National Assembly confirmation hearings for Kim. The agency nonetheless began operations without a confirmed director, as the appointment process has not been completed.
Choo particularly took issue with President Lee invoking her name to defend the nomination.
Earlier, in response to concerns that Kim was a Yoon loyalist, Lee argued that Kim was in fact "anti-Yoon, not pro-Yoon," pointing to Kim's appointment as chief prosecutor by Choo during the Moon Jae-in administration as evidence.
Choo said she had appointed Kim on the recommendation of the vice minister at the time. She added that after she initiated disciplinary proceedings against then-Prosecutor General Yoon Suk Yeol, the vice minister abruptly resigned, and Kim was among those who signed a collective letter of insubordination calling the disciplinary action unjust.
Regarding the appointment, Choo said she would "confess that my ability to read people was woefully inadequate," and asked that her having promoted Kim to chief prosecutor not be used as grounds for trusting him now.
She went on to say that "whether he is pro-Yoon or anti-Yoon is not the essence of the matter," arguing that the focus should be on whether Kim is the right person to serve as the inaugural director of the agency tasked with prosecutorial reform, rather than on which faction he was once close to.
This was not the first time Choo had criticized Kim. After President Lee mentioned that Kim had been promoted to chief prosecutor during her tenure as minister, Choo on Thursday compared Kim to a "substandard restaurant."
She wrote at the time that she had gone to a restaurant on a recommendation, only to find "the hygiene was a mess, the staff were unkind, and the ingredients and food were poor." Her point was that her past appointment of Kim could not by itself justify his current nomination.
hong@heraldcorp.com
