Major Conglomerate Heads Gradually Excluded from National Assembly Audit Witness List

Jeongmuwi excludes heads and bank presidents as witnesses
Nonghaesuwi replaces heads with vice president level instead

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] As the National Assembly's audit approaches, demands for the appearance of conglomerate heads as witnesses are being gradually excluded. Attention is focused on whether the annual controversy of 'shaming businesspeople' will disappear in this audit.

According to the National Assembly on the 28th, the Political Affairs Committee finalized the list of 31 witnesses and reference witnesses for the audit on the 25th, including 19 witnesses and 12 reference witnesses.

The opposition parties, including the People Power Party, mainly requested witnesses related to the private equity fund scandal. Jung Young-chae, CEO of NH Investment & Securities, Oh Ik-geun, CEO of Daishin Securities, and Park Sung-ho, Vice President of Hana Bank, were selected as witnesses. The ruling party requested Jang Seok-hoon, President of Samsung Securities, as a witness to question the succession issue of Lee Jae-yong, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics. Additionally, Kang Sung-mo, Vice President of Woori Bank, was included in the witness list regarding suspicions of recruitment irregularities in the financial sector.

Notably, the final witness list excluded conglomerate heads initially mentioned, as well as CEOs of financial holding companies and major bank presidents. Previously, CEOs of the four major financial holding companies, Chung Eui-sun, Executive Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor Company, Jung Yong-jin, Vice Chairman of Shinsegae, and Lee Hae-jin, Global Investment Officer (GIO) of Naver, among other conglomerate heads and owners, were included in the requested witnesses.

This appears to be due to concerns that the 'shaming businesspeople' audit could be repeated in the 21st National Assembly. In fact, Kim Byung-wook, the ruling party's secretary of the Political Affairs Committee, stated, "I hope the 2020 audit will focus on policy," and announced that he would not request witnesses.

Not only in the Political Affairs Committee but also in other standing committees, there is a trend to refrain from summoning conglomerate heads. In the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee, the heads of the five major companies initially listed as witnesses were excluded. Instead, Joo Eun-ki, Vice President of Samsung Electronics, Yang Jin-mo, Vice President of Hyundai Motor Company, Kang Dong-soo, Vice President of SK, Jeon Myung-woo, Vice President of LG Electronics, and Lim Sung-bok, Executive Director of Lotte Group, were named as witnesses and reference witnesses.

In the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee, there was public opinion that representatives of portals such as Naver and Kakao should be selected as witnesses, but the selection was not finalized due to failure of agreement between the ruling and opposition parties.

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