Shuffling the same deck

President Roh Moo-hyun conducted a shake-up of senior posts at the Blue House last week. Few had anticipated any meaningful changes, but it is pitiful that Roh did not take the opportunity to introduce some new blood to the sluggish presidential secretariat. Not to mince words, Roh did nothing more than shuffle some old cards in the same deck.

All but one of the five senior presidential secretaries came from within the Blue House in the form of promotions. A bigger cause for concern is those same four secretaries have close personal relationships with the president.

Jun Hae-chul, the new senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, had worked in the same law firm with Roh. He defended one of the president's close confidants, Ahn Hee-jung, when he was involved in a corruption case. The new top personnel aide, Park Nam-chun, served Roh when the president headed the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

Roh lived up to the expectations of his hometown folks by filling two posts with men from Busan. Rhee Jung-ho, who became the senior presidential secretary for civic and social agenda, was one of Roh's key campaigners in the city during the last presidential election. There is another connection that the Blue House may not have wanted to be made public - Rhee is brother-in-law of Rep. Lee Kwang-jae of the Uri Party, who is as close an associate of Roh as Ahn. Rounding out the cronyism-packed appointments was the naming of Cha Eui-hwan, one of Roh's high school classmates, as the new senior presidential secretary for process and performance management.

The Blue House said the president made the appointments in the belief that his senior aides should be familiar with his "governing philosophy" and ensure continuity of the administration. In other words, Roh only wanted to keep people he feels comfortable with and he sees no need for change and new thinking.

That is the wrong path to take for a president whose biggest problem is being cocooned by people, many of them whose only qualification for serving as presidential aides is taking the same ideological line as their boss.

Moreover, the Roh Blue House has been under fire in the wake of a spate of scandals involving presidential staff, including leaks of classified documents, murder, drunk driving, and free golf outings. These things alone should have given Roh good reason to conduct a sweeping reshuffle at the Blue House to firm up discipline and refresh the presidential office.

Roh entered politics by joining the party of former President Kim Young-sam. He also regards another former leader, Kim Dae-jung, as his political mentor. One of the lessons Roh needs to learn from them is this: Both men surrounded themselves with a high wall of close associates until the last day of their respective presidencies. That resulted in the concentration of power in a small group of people. Many of them, including the ex-presidents' children and key aides, went to jail on charges of corruption and misconduct during and after their stints at the Blue House. Roh needs to seek the service of people from a broader group if he is not going to repeat the same mistakes.

2006.05.08