Yoon outraged over police announcing reshuffle without approval

Jun 24, 2022, 08:14 am

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President Yoon Suk-yeol responds to reporters’ questions as he arrives at his office in Seoul on June 23, 2022./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Lee Wook-jae

President Yoon Suk-yeol expressed anger Thursday to the police’s reversal of personnel appointment announcement, saying the latest incident is a “breach of national discipline.”

The president’s rarely strong criticism comes after the police announced a list of new senior official appointments without the president’s approval.

On his way to his office in Yongsan, Yoon was asked by reporters that if he had received any briefings on the police’s announcement of a reshuffle of senior officials and its overturned appointments.

“I looked into the matter after reading the news about the overturned appointments and found out something absurd had occurred,” Yoon said. “It is nonsense to say that the police just insisted on the personnel recommended by themselves. In a way, it could be considered a disturbance of national discipline,” he said. “The person authorized to make personnel decisions is the president.”

“The fact that a reshuffle that had not been approved by the president, or reviewed by the interior ministry and proposed to the president, had been leaked and reported in the press as if the appointments had been reversed, is a very serious disturbance of national discipline, or an absurd mistake by a public servant that is unacceptable,” the president said.

At around 7:10 p.m. on Tuesday, the police released a list of 28 new senior superintendents general. However, it reversed seven of them two hours later. At around 10 p.m., the president approved the list.

Earlier, the police claimed that an employee had mistakenly released a preliminary list of the appointments. Then changed its explanation, saying the Ministry of the Interior and Safety had sent an incorrect list.

In response, Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min gave different explanation, saying, “It all happened when the police announced a preliminary list before the president approved it.”

However, there are several interpretations about the fact that the initial announcement was made without approval of the presidential office, and the fact that the senior police chief, who had been dispatched to the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s presidential transition committee, has been appointed to an important post while another senior superintendent general, who had been dispatched to the former Moon Jae-in government’s national affairs office, has been pushed out of important positions.

The controversy is growing as it comes amid the police’s strong internal protest against the Yoon Suk-yeol government’s push for the establishment of a “police bureau”. The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) criticized Yoon’s remarks, noting that the “government’s attempt to control the police is reaching its peak.” The DP is planning to set up a task force to respond to the related matter.

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