Moon Administration Had “Blacklist” of Employees in the Environmental Ministry

Here is the latest on the Moon administration’s growing “blacklist” scandal:

The opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) urged the Blue House on Thursday to respond to suspicions that it compiled a blacklist of executives at public organizations affiliated with the Environment Ministry early this year, the latest in two weeks of revelations about illegal surveillance by President Moon Jae-in and his top aides. 

The LKP initially raised the blacklist allegation on Wednesday in a press briefing, while revealing to local reporters a document leaked by an anonymous former member of the Blue House special inspection bureau. The member claimed that his team specifically ordered the Environment Ministry to draft the report, which the ministry submitted last January. (………)

On Wednesday, the LKP revealed to reporters a document that was roughly entitled, “The trend of resignation of executives at organizations affiliated with the Environment Ministry.” Below that was a subtitle that read, “The status of resignation of executives at eight public organizations under the Environment Ministry.” A short summary of the report explicitly stated that “resignation procedures were proceeding without any particular disturbance or backlash except in the Korea Environment Corporation.” 

A total of 24 executives of those eight organizations were listed in the report, profiling their affiliation, job rank, name, term and “status quo.” Among those figures, 14 were said to have submitted resignations and three were said to have been planning to.

Former LKP Rep. Kim Yong-nam, who is a member of a committee within the conservative party looking into the whistle-blowing scandal, said during Wednesday’s press conference that the former Blue House special inspection bureau member who provided the document said he personally received the report around Jan. 15 from a high-ranking official in the Environment Ministry. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

This environmental blacklist reminds me some what of what the Moon administration did to consolidate control over public media broadcasters. They pressured executives to resign by having union thugs harass and threaten them. Once the executives resigned they were replaced by the Moon administration with left wing advocates.

In this case it appears they pressured government employees within the Environmental Ministry to resign in order to put in place employees that shared left wing values.

What is driving the criticism of the blacklist is that the Moon administration put the Chief of Staff of the prior Park administration Kim Ki-choon in jail for three years for running a so called “cultural blacklist” that prevented left wing affiliated artists from getting government funding. What he did is arguably not as bad as what is alleged here where people were actually forced out of their jobs.