“Unification Ministry must not become a ministry providing aid to North Korea,” President Yoon tightens grip on executive branch after cabinet reshuffle

Kim Eun-hye, senior secretary for public relations in the Office of the President, gives a briefing on President Yoon Suk-yeol’s instructions concerning the appointments in the Ministry of Unification in the Office of the President in Yongsan, Seoul on July 2.

On July 2, President Yoon Suk-yeol said, “In the past, the Ministry of Unification played the role of a ministry providing aid to North Korea, but it must no longer do so.” He criticized the unification policy of his predecessor Moon Jae-in and instructed the government to switch its policies on North Korea to a hardline stance. The president is tightening his grip on the executive branch after newly appointing the minister and vice minister of unification.

In a written briefing, the president’s press secretary Kim Eun-hye conveyed that on Sunday, President Yoon gave his instructions as he told his staff that it was now time for the unification ministry to change.

President Yoon said, “From now on, the unification ministry must play its proper role according to the constitutional principles, which pursue unification based on the basic order of liberal democracy.” He further said, “The unification we must seek is one where the residents of both North and South Korea can live more prosperously and more decently.” He defined the previous government’s policies, which focused on inter-Korean dialogue and exchanges, as “aid with no principles,” and “giving things away to North Korea,” and called for change.

Reportedly, the president made these remarks after mentioning the new cabinet appointments last week including the unification minister. After replacing everyone in central positions handling the nation’s unification policy, the president once again made clear his determination to switch the direction of unification policies with his instructions Sunday. On June 29, President Yoon appointed Kim Yung-ho, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University known as a hardliner on North Korea issues, as the minister of unification, and Ambassador to Thailand Moon Seoung-hyun, a traditional diplomat, as the vice minister. It was an unusual decision, bringing in outsiders to serve as the minister and vice minister of unification. The secretary to the president for unification is expected to be replaced by Kim Soo-kyung, a professor at Hanshin University who focuses on human rights issues in North Korea. The president practically dismantled the existing system in the unification ministry by placing outside figures and hardliners in positions responsible for the nation’s unification policy.

Now the key tasks of the unification ministry are likely to change to policies focusing on pressuring the North, such as highlighting North Korea’s human rights issue, instead of inter-Korean dialogue and exchange. President Yoon sent out a strong signal personally making the appointments and publicly instructing his officials, and now a move away from hardline policies seems unlikely. In March, the president told his officials to stop giving things away to North Korea and told them to make it clear that we cannot give a single won while the North continues to promote its nuclear program. On June 28, he claimed that the previous government requested the international community to ease sanctions on North Korea and defined the Moon Jae-in government as an “anti-state power.”

The president seems intent on pressing public officials after his appointment of the minister and vice minister. He is accelerating his efforts in his second year in office after determining that change in public office to align with his philosophy on the government’s handling of state affairs was slow the past year.

In particular, he sent five of his secretaries from the Office of the President to the executive branch as vice ministers while emphasizing his determination to dismantle a “cartel of interests” in public office, which will probably add a lot of pressure on public officials. By presenting the dismantling of the cartel of interests as one of his key ideas in state administration, President Yoon appears to be pressing some public officials, including them in the cartel.

On June 29, President Yoon encouraged the secretaries going to fill vice-ministerial positions and said, “Be loyal to the constitutional principles, not me.” His words this day suggested that the place for public officials who sought “change” instead of following the direction of the incumbent government’s state administration was not the government but the National Assembly. Senior Secretary for Public Relations Kim Eun-hye also conveyed that during the meeting with his secretaries, the president said, “We need to strictly punish public officials who ignore or hold hands with them (cartel of interests).” One official present in the meeting said over the phone, “He meant that civil servants who should work to realize the philosophy on state administration should not refuse to work, going from one side to the other.” He also said, “Overall, I don’t think he was just trying to speed things up. I believe he was emphasizing the direction (according to the constitutional principles).”

Reportedly, Grade-1 civil servants of some ministries all handed in their resignations. The future of officials subject to personnel decisions is expected to be determined by whether they were involved in the policies of the previous government, which the president said was affected by the cartel of interests, and whether they actively promoted state tasks according to the direction presented by the new government.