President Moon Jae-in on Thursday hinted that he would not give up on Foreign Minister nominee Kang Kyung-wha, urging opposition parties to cooperate in handling her parliamentary confirmation process.

He also underlined that as state chief, he is entitled by law to appoint Cabinet members with or without parliamentary consent and urged opposition parties to consider the current diplomatic vacuum and the imminent Korea-US summit.

“(The opposition) says that if the president appoints (Kang), it will end efforts for cooperative governance or even boycott parliamentary affairs. Such exertion of pressure is truly unacceptable,” Moon said.

“Having kicked off amid an emergency situation without a transition committee, the current government is working to minimize state affairs vacuum and to organize the Cabinet, despite the lack of personnel system and confirmation standards.”

Three opposition parties have been boycotting Kang’s nomination, citing her past record of false residence registration and the president’s earlier vow for integrity in the bureaucratic society. 

“Our Constitution and laws are very clear on the authority of the president and of the legislature upon government personnel,” Moon said.

“It was only for the sake of thorough verification that the Participatory Government (under the late liberal President Roh Moo-hyun) introduced a confirmation hearing process (for minister nominees).”

While the appointment of prime minister, Constitutional Court chief, Supreme Court chief, and Board of Audit and Inspection chief require parliamentary consent, minister-level Cabinet members may take office upon presidential designation, should the Assembly fail to set its stance within due time.

“It is up to the people to review the confirmation result and make the final decision, and I shall abide by the will of the people,” the president said.

“The Korea-US summit is coming up in two weeks, to be followed by the Group of 20 summits and other key diplomatic agendas, which the president cannot carry out in the absence of a foreign minister.”

Following the president’s comments, Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday gestured at forcing ahead with Kang’s appointment as early as on Sunday, with or without parliamentary consensus.

“We have requested the National Assembly to endorse the confirmation report on nominee Kang by May 17,” a Blue House official told reporters, alluding that Moon will move ahead with her appointment as early as Sunday.

Upon the legislature’s disapproval of a nomination, the president may request for a second review within a maximum period of 10 days. The endorsement of Kang’s report was originally due by Wednesday but was thwarted by the dominant opposition.

Such determined actions deepened the divide between the liberal administration and the largely conservative opposition, led by the main opposition Liberty Korea Party.

“We take Cheong Wa Dae’s stance as an effective declaration of war,” interim party chief and floor leader Rep. Chung Woo-taik told reporters.

“Should Kang’s appointment be enforced, our party shall resist forcefully, which means there will be serious setbacks in key parliamentary issues such as the confirmation of Constitutional Court chief nominee Kim Yi-su and the passage of the supplementary budget bill.”

The People‘s Party called for an emergency party meeting on Friday morning to discuss the countermeasures.

“We consider President Moon’s remark (on pushing ahead with Kang‘s appointment) an emergency situation and thus call off all official schedules which were due to take place in Gwangju tomorrow,” party spokesperson Kim Yoo-jeong said in a briefing.

The centrist party earlier assaulted upon Moon for contradicting his own vows to exclude rule-breakers from high-profile government posts.

“Our party consented to the appointment of the prime minister for the sake of greater interests, yet the president continues to try to coerce the opposition,“ Kim said earlier.

The party’s interim chief Rep. Park Joo-sun, in his radio interview with PBC in the morning, also cited past examples of Korea-US summits in which the South Korean foreign minister failed to make attendance, arguing that the pressing summit schedule may not justify Kang’s appointment.

The floor leaders of the two biggest opposition parties, along with the conservative Bareun Party, met with the ruling party counterpart on Thursday afternoon to discuss the issue but failed to reach a consensus.

“The three opposition parties expressed concerns on the pending state affairs and demanded that the president reconsider (Kang‘s appointment),” said Chung.

While the appointment of the foreign minister nominee remained in dispute, other minister nominees one by one cleared their way for appointment.

The corresponding parliamentary committees on Wednesday endorsed the reports on Oceans and Fisheries Minister nominee Kim Young-choon and Interior Minister nominee Kim Boo-kyum.

Land Minister nominee Kim Hyun-mee, however, faced a fierce backlash from the opposition during the confirmation hearing over her alleged lack of expertise and plagiarism in academic papers.

By Bae Hyun-jung(tellme@heraldcorp.com)