Yoon on Jeong Ho-young Allegations: "There Must Be Factual Evidence of Wrongdoing"... Distancing from Cho Kuk Scandal

Suspicion of Jeong Ho-young's 'Special Privileges for Child's Medical School Transfer' Spreads
40-Year Friendship with President-Elect Yoon... Distancing from Cho Kuk Incident
Yoon's Side: "Will Wait for Explanation on Whether Illegal Acts Occurred"

Health and Welfare Minister nominee Jeong Ho-young is attending the press conference announcing the appointment of ministerial candidates for eight ministries of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration at the Presidential Transition Committee in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 10th, responding to reporters' questions. Photo by Transition Committee Press Photographers Group

The Yoon Seok-yeol transition team expressed a stance of waiting to see the explanation from Jeong Ho-young, the nominee for Minister of Health and Welfare, who has been accused of preferential treatment in his child's medical school transfer admission and his son's military service corruption, stating, "There must be definite facts of wrongdoing." Jeong is known to be a '40-year acquaintance' of Yoon.

On the 17th, Bae Hyun-jin, spokesperson for the president-elect, responded to questions about the allegations against Jeong at a briefing held at the Presidential Transition Committee press room in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, saying, "Today at 2 p.m., the nominee voluntarily decided to hold a press conference to explain the allegations, so we are also watching closely. However, the president-elect mentioned that there must be definite facts of wrongdoing."

Spokesperson Bae emphasized, "The president-elect's position is to first observe today's press conference," adding, "Many compare (Jeong Ho-young's allegations) to Cho Min's case, but that was a clear academic forgery issue confirmed before the public. It is very important to determine whether there was any criminal act equivalent to the many doubts and suspicions currently surrounding the nominee."

Regarding whether the personnel screening process was inadequate for Jeong, known as Yoon's 40-year acquaintance, Bae said, "Personnel screening is continuously conducted by narrowing down the pool of candidates," and dismissed the allegations of screening inadequacy reported by some media as "not true," stating, "I cannot say based on what criteria or which parts were examined, but it is not true."

When asked if the president-elect is aware of these allegations, Bae replied, "Since the media is reporting in detail, it is understood that (Yoon) is surely monitoring everything without exception."

Jeong, who served as director of Kyungpook National University Hospital, recently faced controversy over preferential treatment in his child's transfer admission to Kyungpook National University Medical School. Following allegations of excessive use of business promotion expenses and overseas trips during his tenure as hospital director, he decided to hold a press conference this afternoon to personally address various suspicions. However, as the issue of children's admission has become one of the most sensitive topics since the former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk's scandal, voices calling for his voluntary resignation are growing even within the People Power Party.

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