President Yoon Suk-yeol spoke on the heated debate over his unsuccessful nomination of cabinet members and asked, “Were there such great people among the ministers nominated by previous governments?”

On July 5, President Yoon met with reporters on his way to work at the presidential office in Yongsan and answered the press with this question after the press mentioned the criticism that the president’s appointment of Song Ok-ryeol as the head of the Fair Trade Commission, Park Soon-ae as the new deputy prime minister for social affairs, and Kim Seung-hee as a former health and welfare minister nominee were poor and unsuccessful personnel decisions.

When a reporter mentioned that there were many factors that could have been verified prior to the nomination of the controversial candidates, President Yoon said, “Why don’t you compare them with other governments--the qualifications and such of the nominees...” and left.

Kim Seung-hee, the ministerial nominee for health and welfare now subject to an investigation by prosecutors after the National Election Commission requested the investigation, voluntarily stepped down the previous day. Kim was the third unsuccessful ministerial nominee in the Yoon Suk-yeol government following Kim In-chul, nominee for deputy prime minister and minister of education, and Chung Ho-young, health and welfare minister nominee. This was the first time that two consecutive nominees for the same ministerial position failed to be appointed. If we include Kim Seong-hoi, former secretary to the president on religious and multicultural affairs who stepped down following controversial hate comments, Kim Seung-hee was the fourth high-ranking official to fail in securing his position in the new government.

President Yoon nominated Song Ok-ryeol, a professor at the Seoul National University School of Law, as head of the Fair Trade Commission the previous day, but immediately, news of Song’s sexual remarks got out and Song released an apology through the Office of the President. That same day, President Yoon appointed Park Soon-ae, who stirred controversy with a history of driving under the influence, as deputy prime minister and minister of education.

The series of unsuccessful nominations has fueled public criticism that they undermined the president’s leadership in state affairs and that they showed problems in the candidate recommendation and verification system.