Beopseoryeon files complaint against Hwang Hee over controversy of "600,000 won living expenses and taking sick leave for overseas travel"

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nominee Hwang Hee
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Hwang Hee, the nominee for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, who has been embroiled in various controversies such as living on a monthly allowance of 600,000 won and taking sick leave during National Assembly plenary sessions to travel abroad, has been reported to the prosecution.

The Action Alliance for the Restoration of the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon) announced on the 10th that they have filed a criminal complaint and requested an investigation at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office against nominee Hwang on charges including fraud, instigation of false official document creation, obstruction of business, abuse of authority, violation of the Political Funds Act, and embezzlement and breach of trust in the course of duty.

Beopse-ryeon stated, "Nominee Hwang submitted false documents indicating sick leave during the 20th National Assembly, traveled abroad during the plenary session, and received 190,000 won in special activity expenses from the National Assembly during that period. This constitutes fraud by deceiving the National Assembly Secretariat with false documents to gain financial benefits," adding, "If he instructed the creation of false documents, it corresponds to instigation of false official document creation and abuse of authority."

They continued, "According to the materials submitted by nominee Hwang, he lived on 600,000 won per month, which is practically impossible. Regarding the allegations, nominee Hwang claims to have spent 3 million won monthly on living expenses but has failed to provide any evidence," and added, "There is a possibility that he used illegal political funds of unknown origin as living expenses."

Beopse-ryeon also explained, "His child attends a foreign school with tuition fees of 42 million won per semester, and regarding the 250 million won spent on his daughter's overseas study from 2011 to 2015, he claimed to have covered it with 375 million won obtained from selling an officetel under his spouse's name. However, since the officetel sale occurred in 2015, this explanation is insufficient," and stated, "There is a possibility that illegal political funds were received and used, so an investigation has been requested."

Furthermore, they claimed, "If nominee Hwang plagiarized his doctoral dissertation, it could constitute obstruction of business. There are also suspicions of violations of the Political Funds Act regarding high-value sponsorships from supervised institutions, payment of encouragement money to aides using political funds, and failure to disclose sponsor information. The act of opening 46 bank accounts may also have been used to receive illegal political funds, so an investigation has been requested."

Finally, Beopse-ryeon added, "Nominee Hwang, who has never had a proper job, sent his daughter to early overseas study and to a foreign school while his assets have been steadily increasing. He has failed to provide clear explanations for past expenditures, so there is a reasonable suspicion that illegal funds have flowed to nominee Hwang," and concluded, "Appointing nominee Hwang would be a betrayal of the majority of citizens who live diligently."

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