One of the key functions of party politics in a democracy is to ensure that the people can choose the political group to govern through elections.
This aspect is made clearer because the parliamentary cabinet system announces the shadow cabinet prior to the election, but even in the presidential system, major candidates run for president as part of a political party, giving them the opportunity to select a political group in charge of administrative power. provided to the people.
In short, in a democratic country, whether it is a parliamentary cabinet system or a presidential system, an election is not only an event in which one ruler is elected, but also a process in which the people select a political group to rule.
What political group did the people of the Republic of Korea who elected President Yoon Seok-yeol choose as the political group in charge of executive power?
In a formal sense, the people selected the People's Power, the political party to which President Yun Seok-yeol belonged, or the conservative political power represented by the People's Power as the political group in charge of administrative power.
However, looking at the procedures surrounding key positions and personnel appointments that took place about a month after Yoon Seok-yeol took office, it is doubtful that another group other than the group recognized as the power of the people or a traditional conservative political group has taken over a significant part of the executive power. .
This is because the so-called 'Yun Seok-Yeol Division' or 'Prosecutor's Line', former and current prosecutors, are spread out in Commanding Heights, which must be seized for the efficient operation of administrative power.
The 'Prosecutor's Line' that took over the commanding heights of the Yun Seok-Yeol government
It is not uncommon for the president to select administrative officials with a less political character or those who have been administrative officials.
However, the quality and quantity of President Yoon Seok-yeol's appointment of former prosecutors seems far from the general level of technocrat selection.
This is clearly evident when looking at the position assignments related to personnel rights.
Personnel-related positions are the most important commanding heights in the exercise of power.
This is because it is the power that can send anyone you want to where you want it, and is the precondition for the proper exercise of the president's power.
However, in the Yun Seok-Yeol administration, those assigned to positions in charge of the exercise of personnel rights for high-ranking public officials are all from the prosecution.
The HR planning officer and HR secretary in charge of personnel affairs in the presidential office are both from the prosecution, and the Ministry of Justice is also in charge of the primary personnel verification function for candidates for high-ranking public officials.
Compared to the past, when the presidential office was in charge of both recommendation (HR Office) and verification (Senior Civil Affairs Office), moving the personnel verification function out of the presidential office can be regarded as an institutional progress, but the verification function that was painstakingly separated from the presidential office The fact that it was placed in the Ministry of Justice, rather than in the Human Resources Innovation Department, whose main job is personnel, can be seen as a scene that shows the intention of which group President Yun Seok-yeol intends to entrust the most important functions of power to.
In the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, it is a signal that the 'prosecution line' has taken over Commanding Heights.
Why did you choose the presidential candidate from the Prosecutor General's Office?
Some argue that it is not critical for a president elected by the people to use a person who is free from legal and ethical flaws in a desired position.
However, as mentioned earlier, the presidential election is not only an event in which one ruler is elected, but also a process in which the people select a political group in charge of administrative power.
The person elected by the Korean people in the last presidential election was candidate Yoon Seok-yeol, the second symbol belonging to the People's Power, who was the boss of the 'Prosecutor's Line' or 'Yun Seok-Yeol Division', which ran directly as a presidential candidate within a few months of resigning as Prosecutor General. Yoon Seok-yeol was not the candidate.
Rather, more of those who elected President Yoon Seok-Yeol were more likely to support President Yoon Seok-Yeol 'in spite of this', even though they saw that it was not appropriate to run as a presidential candidate from the Prosecutor General's Office.
The results of a public opinion poll conducted a few months before President Yoon retired from the position of prosecutor-general are proof of that.
According to the National Indicators Survey (NBS) conducted in November 2020 by public opinion polling companies Embrain Public, K-Stat Research, Korea Research, and Korea Research, 40% of the public opinion opposed to Yoon Seok-yeol’s run for president at that time was in favor of the election. Opinion was polled at 20%.
After the investigation, the Moon Jae-in administration and former Minister Choo Mi-ae continued their unprecedented behavior against President Yoon Seok-yeol, who served as the Prosecutor General, and political support for President Yoon Seok-yeol increased. There are data that show that the majority have a critical perception of the 'direct act' itself.
The people did not elect the 'prosecutor's office' in the last election.
Rather, it is a bad thing for the prosecution as a system
Occupying key positions in the 'prosecution line' raises another problem in addition to the concentration of power on specific groups that have not been elected by the people.
It can be a threat to the prosecution as a system rather than a 'prosecutor's line' as a human collective of former prosecutors.
This is because it could worsen the public's perception of the political neutrality of the prosecution.
It seems unlikely that the effects of the people who had been in the prosecution until not long ago were immediately incorporated into the inner circle of power through a special relationship with the former prosecution president as a medium would have little effect on the prosecution, a quasi-judicial institution.
Even if individuals belonging to the prosecution system as a system actually perform their duties neutrally, it is not easy to dispel the suspicion that the former prosecutors handled their work in a way that was favorable to the specific forces concentrated in important positions.
The progress of the 'prosecutor's line' is rather bad news for prosecutors who try to perform their duties neutrally within the prosecution.
Conversely, it may provide a thrilling opportunity for some political prosecutors who value access to political power more than their neutrality as a quasi-judicial body.
In fact, this has been a concern since President Yoon Seok-yeol ran directly from the Prosecutor General's office as a presidential candidate, but it can be seen that the concern has grown even more as President Yoon concentrated his 'prosecutor's line' in key positions in charge of administrative power.
Winning an election doesn't justify everything.
There are those who strive hard to establish that the intensive appointment of the 'Yun Seok-Yeol Division' is a method that a president who has no internal roots in a party has no choice but to choose realistically politically.
It is also a reality that there is no proper way to check the president's exercise of his/her personnel rights in positions that do not need to go through the approval process of the National Assembly.
However, even if the government started with good will, the outcome of political power is determined by exercising unchecked power in a place where no one can check it, surrounded by close aides who find it difficult to say “No”. President Yoon Seok-yeol, who has a long experience of investigating corruption and abuse, probably knows better than anyone.
The presidential term has only just begun.
After many years, I hope that the five years of the Yun Seok-yeol administration will be remembered under a different name other than the 'period when the prosecution seized power'.
* Note: Commanding heights is a concept first used by Lenin at the 1922 Soviet National Convention to refer to key industries or leading forces that lead the economy of a country.
It is also widely used to mean 'a key notice to dominate a specific field'.