President-elect Yoon to Submit Han Deok-su Prime Minister Nominee's 'Personnel Hearing Request' to National Assembly This Afternoon (Update)

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Son Seon-hee] President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol will submit the personnel hearing request for Prime Minister nominee Han Deok-su to the National Assembly on the afternoon of the 7th.

According to the Prime Minister Nominee Personnel Hearing Preparation Team of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the hearing request is scheduled to be submitted to the National Assembly around 3 p.m. that day.

Since nominee Han previously served as Prime Minister during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, it was initially expected that he would pass the personnel hearing smoothly. However, recent revelations that he received high fees from a law firm and controversies over conflicts of interest during his past real estate and asset formation processes have placed him under strict scrutiny.

Between 1989 and 1999, nominee Han held senior positions in the trade sector, including Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Director-General for Trade Negotiations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. However, it has come to light that he leased his three-story house in Sinmunno 1-ga, Jongno-gu, Seoul, at a high price to AT&T, a major American telecommunications company, and Mobil Oil Korea, a subsidiary of Mobil (now ExxonMobil), a U.S.-based global oil company, raising conflict of interest concerns.

Records confirming that these companies set a mortgage of approximately 170 million KRW on the property have led to suspicions that the real estate transaction involved quid pro quo. Additionally, it was revealed that the house was listed for sale last year at around 10 billion KRW, fueling various speculations.

Regarding this, nominee Han stated, "I will explain everything transparently at the hearing."

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