Ha Tae-kyung: "President Moon, Urged to Postpone Park Ji-won's Appointment... We Must Not Overstep"

Information Committee Adopts National Intelligence Service Director Hearing Report… United Future Party 'Absent'

Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the United Future Party, holds a press conference on the 28th at the National Assembly regarding suspicions about Park Ji-won, the nominee for the National Intelligence Service director. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Ha Tae-kyung, the opposition party secretary of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee and a member of the Future United Party, stated on the 28th regarding Park Ji-won, the nominee for the National Intelligence Service (NIS) director, "I repeatedly urge President Moon Jae-in to withhold the appointment of nominee Park."

On the same day, Ha said on Facebook, "The Democratic Party of Korea forcibly adopted the hearing report on nominee Park. Now, the burden of appointing nominee Park falls entirely on President Moon," adding, "The appointment should be withheld until the authenticity of the secret inter-Korean agreement is clarified."

Ha pointed out, "The NIS director must be someone who can take responsibility for national security without being swayed by North Korea," and "The secret inter-Korean agreement could cause serious harm to national security depending on its authenticity."

Ha also stated, "Even if it takes some time, it is not too late to verify the facts and then appoint the NIS director," and "President Moon must not make the mistake of hastily pushing through the appointment of the NIS director."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Intelligence Committee adopted the hearing report on nominee Park in the afternoon, despite the absence of Future United Party members. Kim Byung-gi, the ruling party secretary of the Intelligence Committee and a member of the Democratic Party, said, "The opposition party did not attend, and we regret that no agreement was reached," adding, "The ruling party members decided to adopt the report after holding a meeting."

Kim explained, "There was no audit by the Ministry of Education regarding the allegations of academic forgery, and the authenticity of the forged documents is something we cannot verify," and "The nominee strongly denies the secret inter-Korean agreement involving $3 billion to North Korea, and since the opposition party has not presented other evidence, we are in a situation where we cannot postpone the adoption."

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