[Editorial] The party leader must prove the rumor wrong

PPP head Kim must keep his promise to oversee the nomination process fairly and transparently without being swayed by the presidential office.

People Power Party (PPP) leader Kim Gi-hyeon denied the rumor that his party will nominate more than 30 prosecutors as candidates in next year’s parliamentary elections. “Such things will not happen. I myself will not allow it to happen,” he said. “It is impossible that scores of people from a certain profession are nominated for elections.”

The party leader promised to thoroughly oversee the nomination process to ensure fairness and transparency. The reaction came after a list of the names of prosecutors expected to run in the legislative elections spread fast in Yeouido. The reassurance was shared by a top presidential aide on political affairs. “How can such wild rumors spread with one year left before the election [on April 10, 2024]?” he asked.

But political circles and voters are still suspicious. The presidential office and the PPP must ask themselves why such rumors continue circulating and why the public simply dismisses such denials by the government or the party. People cannot dispel their perception that former prosecutor general-turned-president Yoon Suk-yeol seated too many prosecutors in top posts in his Cabinet and government agencies. Former prosecutors monopolizing the critical job of screening and recruiting top government officials produced many side effects, as clearly seen in their failure to find dirt on the nominees before their appointments. Chung Sun-sin, a former senior prosecutor nominated to head the Office of National Investigation, had to withdraw after his former colleagues in the prosecution failed to find his son’s school bullying records, for instance.

The controversy was fueled by Yoon’s recruitments of former prosecutors as head of the Financial Supervisory Service, chief secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office and a standing member of the fund management committee of the National Pension Service. Former prosecutors were even hired as outside board directors at large companies.

Political pundits attribute a critical lack of communication and cooperation in the conservative administration to the vertical command system in the top law enforcement agency. President Yoon and the PPP cannot avoid their responsibility for helping create and propagate the rumor that prosecutors will dominate the legislature, too.

PPP head Kim must keep his promise to oversee the nomination process fairly and transparently without being swayed by the presidential office. After being elected as the PPP leader, thanks to the support from the president, Kim vowed to hug his opponents. But he filled the party leadership with lawmakers loyal to the president. Voters will closely watch if he keeps his promise to embrace all in next year’s election.