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| President Yoon Suk-yeol enters the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon |
Yoon's scheduled visit to Daegu on Friday was disclosed through the first lady's online fan forum
By Nam Hyun-woo
The presidential office has been inspecting some secretaries, aides and other staff members who are believed to have been involved in leaking internal documents, fraud or other inappropriate activities.
According to sources at the presidential office, the secretary for public office discipline has inspected at least six presidential staffers, including secretaries, to look into their possible involvement in unspecified irregularities.
One of them is a secretary reporting to the senior secretary for civil society. The secretary is under inspection for allegedly inappropriate contact with an agency outside the office as well as interfering with internal personnel matters. This secretary is known to have helped President Yoon since the beginning of his political career and is close with President Yoon's confidants in the National Assembly.
Another secretary under the senior secretary for civil society has already faced an inspection from the discipline office for failing to manage a staff member who leaked to the press classified documents containing analyses on civic groups holding protests in front of the presidential office. The staff member, who worked for a lawmaker close to President Yoon before joining the presidential office, resigned when the discipline office began inspecting him.
Along with them, the assistant secretaries for the personnel affairs secretary, education secretary and personal secretary to the president also quit recently. They had all previously worked for lawmakers close to President Yoon.
"I cannot confirm the progress or subject of the inspections," senior secretary for public relations Kim Eun-hye said. "However, an inspection always takes place within the boundary of common sense, and I believe it is appropriate to scrutinize the presidential office first, because the office, which makes decisions on critical state affairs, has to be harsh and level-headed toward itself."
The presidential office has been making efforts to reform itself following President Yoon's remarks to "bring reform" to his office first to regain public trust for his administration during his Aug. 17 press conference marking his first 100 days in office.
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| From left, senior presidential secretary for policy planning Lee Kwan-sup, National Security Office second deputy chief Lim Jong-deuk and senior secretary for public relations Kim Eun-hye pose for a photo during a press conference at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, Sunday. / Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon |
On Sunday, the presidential office appointed former Vice Trade Minister Lee Kwan-sup to the new position of senior presidential secretary for policy planning and replaced the senior secretary for public relations with Kim Eun-hye, a former lawmaker and former spokesperson for Yoon when he was the president-elect. Lim Jong-deuk, a former Army two-star general who served as presidential defense secretary during the Park Geun-hye administration, was named to fill the post of second deputy chief of the National Security Office.
This reshuffle, however, was reported by media outlets citing unnamed sources in the ruling party before the official announcement was made, triggering suspicions that the integrity of the office had been compromised.
Against this backdrop, some reports alleged that the presidential office began inspecting aides working for Yoon's wife Kim Keon-hee after a number of her moves as first lady stirred controversies.
The reports came after the president's scheduled visit to the city of Daegu on Friday was disclosed through the first lady's online fan forum before the presidential office made it clear.
The presidential office issued an apology for the leak, but refused to confirm whether it is looking into aides supporting Kim.
"The inspection of aides itself is similar to a daily routine. There is nothing to be dramatized as a serious issue," a senior official at the office said. "It is closer to a principle ― not a political move having certain intentions."
