By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter

Acting President Goh Kun on Tuesday faced a challenge by Chong Wa Dae and the Justice Ministry regarding the scope of his executive power.

``Prime Minister Goh is not authorized to fire or appoint a minister,’’ a senior Chong Wa Dae official said on condition of anonymity. ``I don’t think that it is desirable for the acting president to conduct a major reshuffle of state corporations.’’

This controversy over the scope of the acting president’s authority is expected to continue as the passage by the National Assembly of an impeachment motion against President Roh Moo-hyun is without precedent.

This also poses a great dilemma for the government, which has on its immediate docket a reshuffle of senior prosecutors and heads of state corporations as well as legal challenges on the National Assembly’s decision to reduce the presidential power to grant amnesties.

Roh is now stripped of his presidential power and will remain so for up to six months during which the Constitutional Court is allowed to review his impeachment case.

In a meeting with reporters on Monday, Justice Minister Kang Kum-sil also spoke of his personal opinion about the need to set the limits on Goh’s power.

``I don’t think that it is not within Prime Minister Goh’s authority to make a reshuffle of Cabinet ministers or other important appointments,’’ said Kang, who is regarded as a key ally of the impeached president. ``It is the view of a majority that the prime minister acts on the behalf of the president so his authority should be limited to the routine day-to-day management of state affairs.

Kang’s remarks drew immediate fire from opposition parties.

``It is an attempt to keep the acting president in check,’’ said Hong Sa-duk, floor leader of the majority opposition Grand National Party (GNP). ``I can’t believe that the justice minister could say such a thing, even before the Constitutional Court opens its first session of deliberations on the impeachment case.’’

The second-largest Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) was also critical of Kang.

`` Kang’s remarks constitute an act of insubordination in the capacity of a minister being under control of the prime minister,’’ MDP chairman Chough Soon-hyung said.

Some government sources said that Goh issued instructions for the ministers to refrain from political remarks at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, which targeted the justice minister. The Prime Minister’s Office dismissed that as a groundless allegation.

Chong Wa Dae also denied that it has anything to do with Kang’s remarks.