[Editorial] Flawed selections

President Park Geun-hye, finally giving up on her defense minister nominee, has decided to retain the minister from the previous administration. Her decision speaks volumes about her flawed approach to selecting candidates for high public posts.

On Friday, Kim Byung-kwan withdrew from his nomination as defense minister, paving the way for President Park to retain Kim Kwan-jin as her first defense minister. Kim, a Cabinet member from the previous administration, had been delaying his departure pending her appointment of Kim Byung-kwan as his replacement.

But Park had postponed appointing her first choice for the post, a retired four-star general, to the post of defense minister as one suspicion had been raised after another since his nomination on Feb. 13. The allegations and black marks against his name ranged from his recruitment by a weapons broker as its lobbyist to tax evasions and property speculation.

The final nail in the coffin of his appointment was the disclosure that he did not report his holdings in Korea Myanmar Development Co., better known as KMDC ― a company that had obtained a license for offshore drilling from Myanmar, allegedly with help from those close to former President Lee Myung-bak. The nominee denied that he held any equities when he was testifying during his confirmation hearing in the National Assembly.

But it was later disclosed that he had visited Myanmar together with KMDC executives four months before he purchased 750 shares of the unlisted company in May 2011. A suspicion was raised that he purchased the shares on insider information, given that he was close to the company owner. His claim that he had accidently dropped the equity holdings from the list of assets held in his possession was anything but convincing.

On one hand, it was reassuring to see President Park change her mind and decide to put the military under the control of Kim Kwan-jin, a man with a proven track record of keeping the morale high among his troops. He had issued a standing order to his forces to hit back not just an attacking enemy force but its command and support forces, allegedly helping to deter North Korean provocations.

One the other, the discredited nominee’s fall from grace brought to light once again Park’s seriously flawed process of selecting nominees for top public posts. Kim Byung-kwan was not the only one that failed to survive public scrutiny and make it to the final appointment. Among the four others that had to withdraw from their nominations or appointments was Kim Yong-joon, the first to be tapped for the post of prime minister. Kim quit when he was accused of property speculation and other wrongdoings.

Few of those who passed through confirmation hearings were above suspicion of false resident registration, dodging military service, tax evasion or other wrongdoings. It looked as if the nation’s elite pool were ethically tainted.

Some of those close to the president reportedly claimed the qualifications demanded for an appointment to a public post were too strict and that not many would meet them. Maybe so. But the least demanded of those aspiring for a high public post must not have breached the law in pursuit of personal gain.

Speculation in property, though frowned upon, could be condoned if it was conducted within the boundaries of the law. But few would regard it as normal if half the nominees for ministerial posts avoided active duty for what appeared to be dubious reasons. Nor would it be justifiable if any of them had registered as a resident of a renowned school district for their children’s education when they were not residing there. Though they might claim it was common practice at the time, they did so in violation of the resident registration law.

The flawed selection of candidates for top posts sapped the Park administration at the outset of its honeymoon period, in which it should have set its agenda, solicited support from the opposition and started to keep the ball rolling. Instead, the administration’s head-on collision with the opposition over the qualifications of the nominees kept it from pushing for its political, economic and other key programs.

Now that the dispute is almost settled, the Park administration will have to mend fences with the opposition and launch its projects before the honeymoon period is over. At the same time, it will have to commit itself to avoiding similar mistakes when filling vacancies in the future.