Hwang Hee on the '600,000 Won Monthly Living Expense' Suspicion: "Actually 3 Million Won"

Response to criticism of 46 family accounts: "I still don't know how many there are"

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

[Asia Economy Reporter Geum Bo-ryeong] Hwang Hee, the nominee for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, who is under suspicion for "60,000 won monthly living expenses for a family of three," clarified that "the actual amount is 3 million won."

At the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 9th, nominee Hwang stated, "Regarding the 60,000 won (monthly living expenses), I never said 60,000 won."

According to the withholding tax receipt for earned income submitted by nominee Hwang to the National Assembly, his after-tax income in 2019 was 138 million won. Among this, after excluding apartment rent, insurance premiums, savings, and debt repayments, the amount spent by nominee Hwang's family of three was 7.2 million won, which averages about 600,000 won per month.

In response, nominee Hwang said, "If you look at what was reported in the media, excluding rent, insurance premiums, and tuition fees from my living expenses, the amount charged on my card was 7.2 million won. The assumption is that my bank account balance would be zero (0). These combined led to the calculation of 60,000 won, but if you actually calculate it excluding tuition fees, it comes to about 3 million won."

He added, "In our household, we try to save at least so that later we can leave money for our child's tuition, but I think this was miscommunicated."

Regarding the criticism that having 46 family accounts is "too many," he explained, "I ran twice as a preliminary candidate for the general election and kept running. Most of the accounts are small-amount accounts, and I don't know how much money is in each account. I issue new accounts and later organize them if it gets complicated. I don't even know how many accounts I have now."

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