Hwang Hee Confirmation Hearing: "A Comprehensive Set of Allegations" VS "Never Plagiarized Any Thesis"

Rep. Baek Hyun-jin of the People Power Party Raises Allegations of Plagiarism in Candidate Hwang's Doctoral Dissertation

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism nominee Hwang Hee appeared at the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 9th and responded to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Bomryeong Geum and Juni Park] Hwang Hee, the nominee for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, who is under various suspicions regarding personal matters such as overseas family travel expenses and children's tuition fees, is now facing allegations of plagiarism in his dissertation.

On the 9th, Bae Hyunjin, a member of the People Power Party, claimed that a large portion of Hwang's 2018 doctoral dissertation was identical to a report titled "Smart City Overseas Cases and Development Directions" by Yonsei University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation. The report was commissioned by the National Assembly's Transportation Committee to Yonsei University's Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation in 2017. At that time, Hwang was a member of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee.

According to Representative Bae, Hwang's dissertation translated much of the report's definitions and overseas concepts of smart cities directly into English, and even used some identical photos. In response, Hwang stated at the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly that morning, "I have never seen the report," and explained, "The dissertation is a graduation thesis, but I did write it myself." He also said, "There are almost no domestic papers related to smart cities, so it was difficult to set standards," and added, "Plagiarism is considered over 25%, but mine is less than 5%."

In addition, Hwang has faced suspicions such as late payment of comprehensive income tax, and has not escaped criticism from the opposition party as a "comprehensive gift set of suspicions." Kim Seungsoo, a member of the People Power Party, claimed that Hwang paid 2.07 million won in comprehensive income tax in March last year, just before registering as a candidate for the general election in 2015, calling it a "late payment."

Even before the confirmation hearing began, Hwang had been under suspicion for taking sick leave to travel to Spain, using an official passport, paying tens of millions of won in children's tuition fees, and a family monthly living expense of 600,000 won. Notably, the time when he took sick leave and traveled to Spain with his family coincided with the plenary session held to process the first supplementary budget under the Moon Jae-in administration. This point drew criticism from both ruling and opposition lawmakers. Hwang has explained this as "a simple administrative mistake by secretaries without experience working in the lawmaker's office." Although he apologized on this day, saying, "It was a very inappropriate act," he responded, "There was no plenary session when my family went abroad. The plenary session was scheduled after I left, and many lawmakers besides me were unable to attend then."

Despite various concerns from the opposition, Hwang requested "a chance to work" at the confirmation hearing that day. He said, "The pain caused by COVID-19 to those working in the culture, sports, and tourism sectors is severe and significant," and added, "I will do my best to help this sector recover quickly."

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