Moon, Yoon clash over nomination of central bank chief

Mar 24, 2022, 09:25 am

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President Moon Jae-in and the then prosecutor general Yoon Suk-yeol head to a meeting after Yoon was awarded a letter of appointment on July 25, 2019./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Lee Wook-jae

Rhee Chang-yong, director of the Asia and Pacific department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has been nominated Wednesday to replace Lee Ju-yeol as governor of the Bank of Korea (BOK). However, Cheong Wa Dae and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol clashed over the nomination, putting another obstacle in the way of one-on-one meeting between President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol.

Park Soo-hyun, senior presidential secretary for public communication, announced that President nominated Rhee as the new central bank governor, during a press conference at Cheong Wa Dae. “Rhee is an economics and finance expert, who was an economics professor at Seoul National University and served as vice chief of the Financial Services Commission and chief economist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He has expertise in both theory and policy implementation regarding domestic and global economies, as well as in monetary policy. He also has the full confidence of those around him,” Park said.

Regarding the appointment, a high-ranking presidential official told reporters the nomination was decided to “minimize a vacancy in the central bank leadership, and was discussed with the camp of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol.” Besides, some political observers called the nomination an olive branch from Cheong Wa Dae as Rhee has previously served as the head of a transition committee of the Lee Myung-bank administration.

However, Yoon’s side immediately denied the explanation provided by the top office, saying that the President-elect did not consult about or recommend a particular figure for a certain post to Cheong Wa Dae.

Yoon’s chief of staff Chang Je-won told reporters that he received a call from Cheong Wa Dae only 10 minutes before the announcement. “I laughed when they said they would announce the appointment. When it comes to recommendation, the President-elect should officially either recommend or request for mutual consultation. It is only for Cheong Wa Dae to build a cause to enforce the appointment of audit committee members,” Chang said.

“When the reports about the candidate came out, senior presidential secretary for political affairs Lee Cheol-hee asked me how I think about him. All I said was that he looks like a good person. I don’t agree with Cheong Wa Dae, who claims that they designated Rhee after hearing the President-elect’s opinion,” Chang said.

He pointed that the two sides exchanged opinions to some extent about the nomination in advance, but there was no agreements nor recommendations on Yoon’s part.

On the other hand, Cheong Wa Dae seems to be unable to understand Chang’s such response. According to Cheong Wa Dae, Lee and Chang met and agreed on the nomination, and then Cheong Wa Dae reviewed the candidate.

Some point out that senior secretary Lee Cheol-hee should have had enough time and deliver his opinion to Chang before the announcement of nomination. Some others point out that Chang sent a positive signal prematurely in the process of closed discussion with his counterpart.

The appointment, which was expected to pave the way for a Moon-Yoon meeting, has rather escalated conflict between the two sides, raising concerns that the meeting may not be held. On the other hand, there are also opposing prospects that a meeting could be held in the future, given that Cheong Wa Dae announced the appointment that could share the will of the President-elect.

#nomination #BOK #central bank #Cheong Wa Dae #Yoon Suk-yeol