Ha Tae-kyung "Did you get your degree by intimidation?" vs Park Ji-won "That never happened"

Ha Tae-kyung: "The ruling party blocked all witnesses related to the four major allegations against candidate Park"

Park Ji-won, nominee for the Director of the National Intelligence Service, attended the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 27th and responded to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Park Ji-won, nominee for the Director of the National Intelligence Service, and Ha Tae-kyung, member of the Future United Party, engaged in a heated exchange during the National Assembly Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on the 27th. Ha, the committee's secretary, claimed that Park "intimidated Dankook University to forge his academic records" regarding the suspicion of 'academic fraud at Dankook University,' to which Park responded, "I neither forged nor intimidated anyone."

At the hearing, the United Party raised suspicions that Park forged his academic records by altering his transcript to show graduation from the four-year Chosun University instead of the two-year Gwangju National University of Education to transfer to Dankook University in 1965. Previously, the United Party had requested the original transcript from Park but had not received it by the day of the hearing.

Regarding these allegations, Ha stated, "The candidate's academic fraud is described as 'power-type,'" and added, "When the candidate was a powerful figure in 2000, he intimidated Dankook University to forge his academic records to conceal a dark past."

Park rebutted, "No matter how much I am being questioned, to say things like forgery and intimidation when they are not true..." and Ha raised his voice, saying, "Don't obscure the essence."

When Ha said, "You are using an avoidance strategy...," Park responded, "This is not an avoidance strategy. I am saying there was no forgery or intimidation." As the voices grew louder, Jeon Hae-cheol, chairman of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee and member of the Democratic Party, intervened to mediate and calm the heated atmosphere.

Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the United Future Party and the secretary of the Intelligence Committee, claimed on the afternoon of the 26th at the 4th joint meeting of the Future United Party Intelligence Committee members and the advisory panel for the National Intelligence Service Director candidate Park Ji-won, held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul, that "Candidate Park transferred to Dankook University in February 1965, and although he said the school did not open due to a temporary closure, upon checking the Dankook University school newspaper at the time, it was confirmed that classes did start." [Photo by Yonhap News]

Earlier, Ha had posted criticism of Park on his social media before the hearing.

On the 26th, the day before the hearing, Ha wrote on his Facebook, "The Democratic Party blocked all witnesses related to the four major allegations against Park," and claimed, "They blocked witnesses for the four major allegations: academic fraud (Dankook University president), privileged military service (Ministry of National Defense Personnel Director), contract murder attempt (actor Choi Jung-min), and illegal slush funds and political funds (former NIS employees Choi Jong-heup, Kim Seung-yeon, and Chairman Lee Geon-su's absence)." He added, "Dictatorship begins by silencing people's voices."

He also criticized Park's insufficient submission of materials in another Facebook post.

Ha pointed out, "Looking at the process up to today while our party requested materials to prepare for the hearing, it seems that the Blue House and the Democratic Party's attitude toward the hearing, as well as Park's own attitude, is to trample over the confirmation hearing. This intention is being revealed too blatantly."

He continued, "The four major allegations are: first, academic fraud; second, privileged military service?attending university while serving in the military, which was illegal at the time. Nowadays, soldiers take leave of absence to attend university, but back then, no one went to the military to return to school. Third, the contract murder suspicion involving a former female actress; and fourth, illegal slush funds and political funds. We requested witnesses on these four key issues, but all were rejected."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.