[2022 National Audit] 'Regret → Apology'... Angry Jeong Cheong-rae, Lee Jong-ho Changes Words

On the 18th at the Science and ICT Committee hearing, Kakao incident public apology called a 'happening'
Minister Lee Jong-ho expresses 'regret', Jeong Cheong-rae criticizes "Is that all?"
After being pointed out "Not even bowing head", mentions "apology" and bows head

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] "Wait a moment, is 'I deeply regret it' all you have as an apology? No matter how much you are a former professor lacking political or public sensibility, how can you be like this?" (Jung Cheong-rae, Chairman of the National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee)

"......." (Lee Jong-ho, Minister of Science and ICT)

This happened during the National Assembly Science and ICT Committee’s audit on the 18th. On that day, Minister Lee made an emergency public apology in the form of a work report regarding the SK C&C data center fire and the Kakao and Naver service outages that occurred on the 15th. However, at first, he showed a lukewarm attitude by only saying "deep regret" without a direct apology and not bowing his head, but after Chairman Jung’s reprimand and encouragement, he apologized and bowed, leaving a somewhat suspicious aftertaste.

On that day, Minister Lee said, "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. Service outages occurred on KakaoTalk, Naver, and others, causing inconvenience to the public," and added, "Unlike the period telecommunications services that directly provide wired and wireless communication services, value-added communication services have been outside the institutional framework for communication disaster response. However, since the collapse of the stability of value-added communication services causes not only daily inconvenience to the public but also paralysis of economic and social activities, we recognize this matter very seriously."

He then explained the recovery status, cause analysis, preparation of institutional and technical measures to prevent recurrence, and damage compensation negotiations without issue. However, Minister Lee said, "As the minister in charge, I deeply regret causing great inconvenience to the public due to the service outage," without directly mentioning an 'apology.' He also did not bow his head.

Then, an angered Chairman Jung stepped in. As Minister Lee was about to leave, Chairman Jung requested, "Please wait a moment," and said, "Such a national disaster causing great damage has occurred, so you must start by sincerely apologizing. Where is the greeting thanking for the opportunity to speak? Is 'deep regret' an apology?" He continued, "Today, I bow my waist at 90 degrees and deeply apologize as the minister in charge for causing great damage to the people. I expected this. No matter how much you are a former professor lacking political and public sensibility, how can you be like this?"

Minister Lee tried to escape by saying, "The media has already... (apologized)," but Chairman Jung urged again, "This is a place where the public is watching and in front of the National Assembly members who represent the people, so this is a formal occasion to apologize to the public. Is this all the public empathy you have?"

Minister Lee said, "I bow my head and apologize for the inconvenience the public has experienced," but still smiled awkwardly and did not bow his head. Chairman Jung finally said, "You still are not bowing your head. I am giving you a chance now. If this ends like this, the media will severely criticize you," urging him.

Only then did Minister Lee formally apologize, saying, "Due to the outage, the public experienced great inconvenience. As the minister in charge, I deeply apologize to the public," and then came out beside the podium and bowed his head at 90 degrees. This episode ended with Chairman Jung saying, "Yes, you may leave now."

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