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How South Korean President Moon’s strict moral code is hurting his cabinet picks
Discussions on three nominations are underway, but the opposition is resisting his picks for defence minister and labour minister
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In his campaign to become South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in touted his credentials as a human-rights lawyer and pledged to enforce a strict moral code in picking his top officials.
Now, two months after being sworn in, Moon’s own standards are making it hard for him to fill his cabinet.
Four of the 18 positions are still occupied by officials from the prior administration of Park Geun-hye. Discussions on three nominations are underway, but the opposition is resisting two of his picks – for defence minister and labour minister – citing concern about their records. While parliamentary approval isn’t required, Moon needs the opposition on board. Otherwise he could risk his economic reforms being stalled in a legislature he doesn’t control.
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The president has tripped himself up with his code aimed at removing “deep-rooted evil”. Having announced grounds for exclusion – anyone who has dodged military service, evaded taxes, made speculative property-market trades, falsely reported an address or plagiarised a thesis, among others – Moon then went ahead and nominated some candidates who fell short.
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Moon knew some of his picks would violate his code but, believing they were trivial infractions, he sought the public’s understanding, local media reported. Moon only learned of the flaws in other candidates after the opposition and local media unearthed them, according to the reports.
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