Checklist Or Blacklist?

Cheong Wa Dae has been embroiled in allegations that it compiled a blacklist of the heads of agencies affiliated with the Ministry of Environment.

The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office issued a travel ban on former Environment Minister Kim Eun-kyung, Tuesday, after acquiring documents supporting allegations that she attempted to remove the chiefs of state agencies appointed during the previous Park Geun-hye administration.

The blacklist allegation first emerged late last year when Kim Tae-woo, a former member of Cheong Wa Dae's special investigation bureau, brought it to media attention. Cheong Wa Dae has been mostly silent about it, but spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom issued a statement Wednesday to refute the widening suspicions that the presidential office pressured the ministry to create the blacklist of figures appointed during the previous administration.

Kim strongly resisted the use of the term blacklist, which has a very negative connotation as it is associated with the previous Park administration in the minds of many Koreans. Some of the former president's close aides were convicted of blacklisting anti-government figures in the cultural sector.

The presidential spokesman explained this was different from the blacklist compiled during the Park government, which was drawn up with the aim of discriminating against people in the film, literature, media and performing arts sectors who opposed the government. Kim stressed that the Ministry of Environment was simply doing its job of inspecting the heads and senior staff at state agencies.

Rep. Hong Yong-pyo, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), also underlined that the ministry...