Hwang Hee Candidate Struggles to Explain Allegations... Concerns Over Lack of Expertise Persist (Comprehensive Report 2)

Minister of Culture Candidate Confirmation Hearing... Focus on Personal Background Verification Over Job Suitability
Explanations on Unfaithful Legislative Activities, Monthly Living Expenses of 600,000 Won, Spouse and Children’s Study Abroad Expenses Suspicion
Plagiarism Suspicion Grows Due to Non-submission of Korean-written Thesis
"I Will Make the Ministry of Culture Not Just a Supporter but a Market Creator"

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@

Hwang Hee, the nominee for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, broke a sweat trying to clarify various allegations.

The confirmation hearing for the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism held by the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee on the 9th was more about personal background verification than job suitability. Questions poured in regarding allegations such as unfaithful legislative activities, a monthly living expense of 600,000 won, expenses for the spouse and children’s studies in the United States, and plagiarism in his doctoral dissertation. Criticism also came from within Hwang’s own party, the Democratic Party of Korea. Assembly member Yoo Jeong-ju emphasized, "Even if you like traveling, you should not be absent from the plenary session," referring to Hwang’s trip to Spain during the National Assembly plenary session.

Hwang took sick leave in July 2017 and traveled to Spain with his family. At that time, the plenary session was discussing the first supplementary budget of the Moon Jae-in administration, but twenty-six Democratic Party lawmakers were absent, causing a lack of quorum. Members of the Liberty Korea Party (now People Power Party), who had staged a collective walkout, returned, and the supplementary budget was barely passed. Hwang said, "There was no plenary session when I left for the trip. I went with the floor leader’s permission, but the supplementary budget plenary session was scheduled afterward," and apologized, saying, "In retrospect, it was an inappropriate action." Regarding the sick leave submission, he explained, "There was an error when the secretariat wrote down the reason."

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-ju doso7@

Regarding the allegation of a monthly living expense of 600,000 won raised by media reports, he said, "I never mentioned 600,000 won myself." Hwang explained, "The amount reported by the media was simply the credit card bill of 7.2 million won divided by 12 months, excluding apartment rent, insurance premiums, children’s tuition, donations, and debt repayments," adding, "They calculated assuming there was no balance in my bank account. Actual living expenses were around 3 million won." On the criticism that he had as many as forty-six bank accounts under family members’ names, he said, "I failed to organize the accounts because I ran twice as a preliminary candidate for the National Assembly elections and kept running. Most of them are small accounts, so I don’t even know how much is in them."

The People Power Party sharpened its criticism regarding the expenses for the spouse and children’s studies in the U.S. and the plagiarism allegations. Assembly member Kim Ye-ji questioned, "You said the spouse and children spent an average of 27 million to 50 million won annually on U.S. study expenses from 2011 to 2015 and used funds withdrawn from a Citibank domestic account, but there are no remittance records during this period," probing the source of funds. During the same period, Hwang’s total income was 142 million won. Since the remittance amount was less, various suspicions arose about how the study expenses were financed. Hwang explained, "My spouse’s older sister lived right in front of the house where my wife and daughter stayed in Boston, and my younger brother also lived nearby in New York," adding, "We received a lot of help in various ways." He also said, "I was not a member of the National Assembly at the time and was going through a difficult personal period, but I tried to send 2.5 to 3.5 million won monthly."

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

He also denied allegations that his spouse obtained a student visa (F1) through irregular means to save on early study abroad expenses for their child. "My wife went to the U.S. on an F1 visa and interviewed at New York University TC School and Boston Smith College but was rejected," he said, adding, "My wife was not in good health, and I had also lost an election, so I think we wanted to avoid school enrollment." Regarding the controversy over early study abroad for their child, he said, "The child attended a public school in Arlington, Massachusetts, free of charge, which is attended by children from lower-income families," and added, "If early study abroad had been the goal, we would not have sent the child there or come back to Korea."

Hwang was unable to fully explain the plagiarism allegations concerning his doctoral dissertation. He earned his doctoral degree from Yonsei University in 2017 while serving as a member of the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee. The People Power Party pointed out that the content was identical to a report submitted by his advisor, who had received a research contract from the National Assembly. Assembly member Bae Hyun-jin claimed, "It was directly translated into English and copied," and said, "This is not a simple plagiarism controversy. It is a new type of illegal act using the power of a lawmaker and taxpayers’ money to obtain a degree." Hwang explained, "It’s not a great dissertation, but I wrote it myself. I just found out today that a contract was given," but he did not submit the original Korean version of the dissertation. Regarding the criticism of not citing sources, he apologized, saying, "I thought some methodologies were like mathematical formulas."

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

Opinions were divided between the ruling and opposition parties regarding the lack of expertise, which had been pointed out since his nomination. The Democratic Party of Korea defended Hwang, saying that various experts from fields such as lawmakers, professors, legal professionals, literary figures, and filmmakers have served as ministers of culture, sports and tourism. Assembly member Lim Oh-kyung said, "Rather than a specialist who is an expert in only one field, the capability of a generalist who can cover and coordinate multiple fields is more necessary." On the other hand, the People Power Party repeatedly pointed out that Hwang has no prior experience related to the ministry’s work. They agreed that he is a last-minute insurance appointment for the administration, keeping next year’s presidential election in mind, rather than someone from the culture, sports, or arts sectors. Hwang was unable to completely dispel concerns about his lack of expertise. Although he pledged, "I will make the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism not just a support agency but a market-creating ministry," he answered "I don’t know well" when asked about areas where policy execution was insufficient.

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