Voices are holding the Office of the President responsible for the latest withdrawal of the appointment of attorney Chung Sun-sin as chief of the National Office of Investigation at the National Police Agency. The presidential office failed to identify and verify issues, such as Chung’s secondary victimization in the process of resolving the school violence practiced by his child and in responding to the disciplinary actions taken by the school. The failure to properly verify the candidate in a timely manner has led to the cancellation of Chung’s appointment. The Office of the President mentioned its limitations in candidate verification and said it would improve the system. However, the controversy is expected to amplify as people question the process of how a former prosecutor was recommended to a position that oversaw police investigations along with the chain of candidate verification centered on prosecutors.

Lee Do-woon, spokesperson for the Office of the President, held a briefing at the Yongsan office on February 26 and announced, “It is the view of the presidential office that much was lacking in the failure to filter out problems during the candidate verification.”

Lee explained, “Currently, candidates for public office are verified with information already disclosed or legally accessible and by surveying public opinion,” and added, “In this case, since the problem did not concern the candidate himself, but his child, we believe some areas were wanting.” He also said, “We will carefully see if there are ways to improve the environment within the legal scope.”

Chung Sun-sin was appointed as the first chief of the National Office of Investigation in the Yoon Suk-yeol government on February 24, but after news got out that his child was responsible for school violence, his appointment was cancelled on February 25, a day before his term was to begin (Feb. 26). The issue also stirred controversy over Chung’s secondary victimization of the victim when he took part in an administrative lawsuit as his son’s legal representative to get the school to cancel the decision to transfer his child, a minor, to another school.

It will be hard for the presidential office to escape criticism that the latest incident exposed general holes in the candidate verification process. Usually, when the Yoon Suk-yeol government verified candidates for high-ranking positions, the candidate underwent a primary verification process by the personnel information management team in the Ministry of Justice, followed by a second confirmation process handled by the Office of the Secretary to the President for Civil Service Discipline in the Office of the President. This time, the police also verified the candidate, according to the explanation by the presidential office.

Yet, in the process of verifying the candidate, the three agencies failed to properly review the press coverage on the school violence linked to Chung’s child as well as the court rulings in the first, second and third trials in which Chung was the legal representative. The Office of the President explained that they failed to properly review the information because the press coverage was an “anonymous report,” and the court ruling involved Chung’s child. They claim the oversight was inevitable because according to current law, they cannot access the school records of a candidate’s child or court records of trials where the child is the defendant or plaintiff.

A key official from the Office of the President met with reporters and explained, “There is word that this issue was not detected in the police investigation of public opinion because the press coverage (in 2018) guaranteed anonymity.” He continued and explained that there were no questions related to school violence in the questionnaire that candidates for public office are required to fill out prior to the appointment. He practically admitted that a major issue that had received a Supreme Court ruling and one that concerned the candidate and his family was omitted in the three-stage verification process.

The prior questionnaire for public office candidates, which the Office of the Secretary for Civil Service Discipline released last September, asks candidates to state related court rulings. The questionnaire asks candidates to state any civil or administrative lawsuits in which the candidate, spouse, parents or children were involved as defendants or plaintiffs; any agency or group that may publicly object or criticize the candidate; and any other issues that could stir controversy in the confirmation hearing or candidate verification process. The latest incident points out that the verification authorities failed to identify the truth in these categories regardless of the answers that the candidate submitted.

The latest debate over the failed appointment of the chief of the National Office of Investigation is likely to spread. Chung was the human rights inspector when President Yoon served as the chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, and the two are known to be close acquaintances. This stirred controversy throughout the entire process, from Chung applying for and being appointed the chief of the National Office of Investigation, a position overseeing police investigations. The opposition party raised suspicions that President Yoon’s intentions were reflected in Chung’s application and that that was why the police commissioner general only recommended one candidate. Oh Yeong-hwan, the Democratic Party of Korea’s spokesperson on the floor, released a comment and said, “The people responsible for the disastrous appointment, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, Secretary to the President for Personnel Affairs Lee Won-mo, and Secretary to the President for Civil Service Discipline Lee Si-won (both in the Office of the President) are all former prosecutors.” He called for the people involved in the latest personnel appointment be reprimanded.