President Roh Moo Hyun has gone ahead and named Uri Party assemblyman Rhyu Si Min the new health and welfare minister. Naming cabinet ministers is part of the authority unique to the president, but his choice is still most unfortunate. Furthermore, if he was going to name Rhyu health minister anyway, it is hard to understand why he did not do so on January 2 when he announced the recent cabinet shuffle, and instead chose to get everyone upset first and then surprise them with his choice without ever having persuaded the ruling party that it is justified.
The primary standard for judging the president's choice is the question of whether Rhyu is the best man for the job. Cheong Wa Dae says that Rhyu is "rich in policy ideas and possesses rich conviction, so will pursue the issues at hand in a smooth fashion," but if it looked around it would see that there is no terrible lack of capable and experienced candidates, so it is hard to understand why the president is so obsessed with appointing Rhyu.
Indeed, civic groups concerned with health and medical care are strongly opposed to having Rhyu appointed health and welfare minister. The reasons they give include that he is too conservative to resolve social disparity and inequality in the area of health, he did absolutely nothing on the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, and they cite problems with his approach to Korea sending troops to Iraq and the Hwang Woo Suk affair. It is, of course, hard to predict how capable he will be in his capacity as health minister, but it is hard enough being minister when you have the wholehearted support of the ruling party. You worry that it will be hard to make and implement policy because the minister collides with the opposition and even the ruling party on every little detail.
It is also a possibility that Rhyu's appointment could exacerbate instability in the running of government affairs if it leads to infighting within the ruling camp. National politics is already only functioning halfway because the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) is temporarily boycotting the National Assembly, so you worry where the country is going when now on top of that you have conflict between the ruling party and the president's office and between factions in the ruling camp. You really have to wonder whether Rhyu is the right choice, especially when it comes at such a price.
The Hankyoreh, 5 January 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Rhyu Si Min Wrong Choice for Health Minister |
