Candidate Hwang Hee Apologizes for "Inappropriate Behavior" During Spain Trip

"No plenary session when leaving for family trip... Sick leave reason was staff mistake"
Regarding '600,000 won living expenses' controversy, "Never said that... Actual amount is around 3 million won"

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism nominee Hwang Hee is attending the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 9th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Hwang Hee, the nominee for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, apologized for his trip to Spain during the National Assembly plenary session.

At the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 9th, nominee Hwang stated, "There was no plenary session when I left for the trip with my family," but added, "In the end, it was an inappropriate conduct." The controversial trip to Spain took place on July 20, 2017. At that time, the plenary session was discussing the first supplementary budget bill of the Moon Jae-in administration, but twenty-six members of the Democratic Party of Korea were absent, causing a lack of quorum. Members of the Liberty Korea Party (People Power Party), who had collectively walked out, returned and barely managed to pass the supplementary budget bill.

Regarding taking sick leave at that time, nominee Hwang explained, "There was an error when the secretariat wrote down the reason." He further explained, "My attendance rate at the 20th plenary session was 96%. I took leave with the approval of the floor leader, but the supplementary budget plenary session was scheduled afterward."

Hwang Hee, nominee for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is delivering opening remarks at the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 9th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

Regarding the controversy over the "600,000 won living expenses" reported by the media, he responded, "I never mentioned the figure of 600,000 won myself." He explained, "The amount reported in the media was simply the credit card expenses of 7.2 million won, excluding rent, insurance premiums, and tuition fees from the living expenses, divided by 12 months. It was calculated as 600,000 won based on the assumption that there was no balance in my bank account. Actual living expenses are around 3 million won." He also referred to his past remarks about receiving gifts during holidays which reduced food expenses and family members doing their own beauty care, saying, "It seems my intention to live frugally was misunderstood."

Nominee Hwang also clarified the criticism about having forty-six family bank accounts. He said, "I failed twice as a preliminary candidate in the general election and kept running, so I couldn't organize the accounts," adding, "Most of them probably have small amounts of 1,000 to 2,000 won."

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