Kim Jin-guk, the fifth chief of civil affairs in the Moon Jae-in administration, has resigned from his position.

It has been a day since reports came out that the job application that my son submitted during the job application process contained inappropriate content.

This is the resignation after 9 months of being appointed after former Senior Civil Affairs Officer Shin Hyun-soo, who expressed his resignation after having a dispute over the appointment of the prosecution in March.



Kim's son, Kim Mo, is known to have written the sentence "My father is Kim Jin-guk, the current chief of civil affairs," in a self-introduction letter submitted to join a consulting firm.

It is said that Kim wrote only the sentence that his father was the chief of civil affairs at the Blue House, not the growth environment or experiences inside and outside of school that applicants usually write in the question of 'growth process'.

It is also said that he wrote, "My father will help me a lot," and "I will make the dream of this company come true by telling my father well."



With Kim's resignation, the Blue House now has to appoint the sixth chief of civil affairs.

The average tenure of the five senior civil affairs officers, starting with former Attorney General Cho Kuk, who was the first senior civil affairs officer of the Moon Jae-in government, is 337 days.


'From the homeland to Kim Jin-guk'...

The average tenure of the Moon Jae-in government's chief civil affairs officer is 337 days.

President Moon is the first president to have served as a senior civil affairs officer, and he knows the office of the chief civil affairs better than anyone else. As is well known, former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, the first senior civil affairs minister, is being tried on charges of corruption in children's entrance exams, and his wife Jeong Kyung-shim and younger brother Jo Kwon are in custody.



The second chief of civil affairs, former chief Kim Won-joon, continued to own two apartments in Gangnam, Seoul and Songpa, despite the 'one house ownership' recommendation given to the Blue House staff, and eventually left the Blue House. The third, former chief Kim Jong-ho, resigned after taking responsibility for the conflict and disciplinary process between former Minister Choo Mi-ae and former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol. left And today, as Kim resigned in dishonour, the 'death of the chief civil affairs affair' that has been repeated since the Moon Jae-in administration has not ceased.




After graduating from Seoul National University Law Department and passing the bar exam, he worked as a lawyer.

When he was appointed as the successor of former chief Shin Hyun-soo, there was no criticism or controversy.

This seems to be because, while serving as a public official at the Blue House and the Board of Audit and Inspection on several occasions, no particular problems with himself or his family were revealed.



The Blue House is in a difficult situation when Kim, who was so flawless, resigned due to a son problem while serving as chief of civil affairs who was the closest aide to the president.

This is true in that the senior civil affairs chief in charge of discipline in public office took a blow to the fairness that the Moon Jae-in administration has repeatedly emphasized.

In particular, the fact that the president's closest adviser has resigned due to a 'family risk' has made the public recall the issue of corruption in the child entrance exam of former Minister Cho Kuk, which is also painful for the Blue House.



There is also concern that the controversy over Kim's son's job application may be rekindled at the spark of suspicion of 'unfair hiring' and 'child preference', which people are most angry about after the so-called homeland crisis.


Byung-woo Woo and Sang-do Kwak also fell under suspicion of 'Dad Chance'...

Is the end of the government bad news?

The family risk of the Blue House chief of civil affairs, who is the president's closest aide and a high-ranking official, is not the only problem with this government. A representative example is Woo Byung-woo, who was appointed as the fourth and youngest chief of civil affairs under the Park Geun-hye administration in 2014 and led the investigation line.



Former chief Woo, a former elite prosecutor, drew attention as controversy arose that his son, who served as a conscripted police officer, was transferred to the so-called 'honey position' while he was considered the most powerful in the regime. While the controversy over his son became a catalyst for public outrage, suspicions of high-priced land near Gangnam Station surfaced day after day. And in September of last year, the Supreme Court confirmed the lower court sentenced to one year in prison for the charge of illegal inspection, and became a former chief of civil affairs who was found guilty.




In addition to former chief of staff Woo, Kwak Sang-do, the first chief of civil affairs in the Park Geun-hye administration, and former lawmaker Kwak Sang-do are also in crisis due to controversies related to their children.

When it was revealed that Kwak's son had received 5 billion won in severance pay from Hwacheon Daeyu, the core of the Daejang-dong development favoritism, Kwak used his position to help developers and received a large sum from his son. It is engulfed in controversy as to whether or not it is.

Former lawmaker Kwak resigned from his office amid controversy and is being investigated by the prosecution, and is also at risk of arrest.



However, since the controversy over Kim Jin-guk's son's job application for a job arose while serving as the incumbent chief of civil affairs at the Blue House, there is a big difference in the impact and aftermath on the operation of state affairs in the future.

There is an observation that it can be viewed as a minor bad news for the Blue House, which should delay the lame duck as much as possible at the end of his term and maintain the driving force of state management as much as possible.


Kim Jin-guk's appeal to leave...

Where is the direction of public opinion after the swift resignation?

It seems in this context that President Moon accepted Kim's resignation just one day after the problem surfaced. Even if Chief Kim had not intervened in his son's job application process, it seems that he would have decided that it was necessary to quickly settle the situation. The Blue House is expecting public opinion to subside by quickly resolving the so-called 'Daddy Chance' controversy that does not meet the public's expectations.



There is also concern that this case may have an unexpected ripple effect in conjunction with this presidential election. Candidates Lee Jae-myung and Yoon Seok-yeol's 'family risk' emerged as the biggest variable in the presidential election early on, and recently some allegations of gambling on the son of Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung have been revealed, making it difficult for a passport to break through.




Kim met with reporters at the Blue House a little while ago and apologized to the public, saying, "I think that a public official who serves the people should not have any misunderstanding or suspicion regarding his family." .

Regarding the dishonorable resignation of the senior civil affairs position, he said, "Even though I am leaving, I hope that the will and efforts of the Moon Jae-in government for justice and fairness will be fully appreciated by the people."

Previously, he did not comment on the statement that he had previously explained to the media, "My son has been receiving treatment for anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms."

As Chief Kim quickly stepped down one day after the allegations were raised, the eyes and ears of politicians are now focused on the direction of public opinion.



(Planning/Production: SBS D Contents Planning Department / Photo Source: Yonhap News)