'Apple Pay' to Appear at the Political Affairs Committee Hearing... Financial Sector Internal Control Witnesses Absent

April 4 Full Meeting Held to Approve Witnesses and Reference Witnesses
Jung Mong-gyu HDC and Kim Joon-gi DB HiTek Chairmen
Lee Seon-jeong CJ Olive Young CEO and Others Adopted as Witnesses

At the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee's audit, the newly introduced 'Apple Pay' this year is coming under scrutiny. Financial holding company chairmen, who faced issues such as embezzlement and internal control problems, were excluded from the witness list.

On the 4th, the Political Affairs Committee held a plenary session and approved a list of 30 witnesses and reference persons for the Financial Services Commission and others, whose audits will begin on the 11th.

For the Financial Services Commission audit, Kim Deok-hwan, CEO of Hyundai Card, and Mark Lee, CEO of Apple Korea, were selected as witnesses to hear opinions related to Apple Pay. Committee members plan to focus their questioning on consumer cost burdens and inconvenience issues arising from the introduction of Apple Pay.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Yoon Jong-kyu, chairman of KB Financial Group, who was initially expected to be selected as a witness regarding internal control failures in the financial sector, was not included in this witness list. KB Kookmin Bank had an incident where employees gained unfair profits of 12.7 billion KRW through undisclosed client information. At BNK Gyeongnam Bank, an employee in the investment finance department embezzled and misappropriated over 100 billion KRW in a real estate project financing, and DGB Daegu Bank faced an illegal account opening incident without customer consent.

Baek Hye-ryun, chairperson of the Political Affairs Committee, said before approving the list, "Although the comprehensive audit remains, the biggest issue right now is the internal control problems in the financial sector, but related witnesses are currently all excluded," adding, "I hope the party leaders will discuss such witnesses again during the comprehensive audit."

The comprehensive audit of the Financial Services Commission and Financial Supervisory Service will be held on the 27th. According to the National Assembly Act, requests for witnesses and reference persons for the audit must be delivered at least seven days before the attendance date, so if the ruling and opposition parties agree by the 20th, additional witnesses can be added for the comprehensive audit.

For the Fair Trade Commission audit scheduled on the 16th, corporate CEOs have been consecutively selected as witnesses. Chung Mong-gyu, chairman of HDC, will appear regarding the non-fulfillment of contracts related to the Tongyeong LNG combined cycle power plant project permits, and Kim Joon-gi, chairman of DB HiTek, will testify about evading holding company regulations.

Companies involved in so-called 'franchisee bullying' are also expected to face intense questioning during the audit. Peter Kwak (Kwak Geun-yeop), CEO of Adidas Korea, who is suspected of unilateral contract termination and product pushing against franchisees, and Moon Young-joo, CEO of Twosome Place, who has been accused of excessive logistics margin profiteering from franchisees, will appear at the Fair Trade Commission audit. Additionally, Ray Jung, CEO of AliExpress Korea, will testify about consumer damages caused by counterfeit and fake products, and Lee Sun-jung, CEO of CJ Olive Young, was summoned to testify regarding allegations of unfair financial support between affiliates in the form of TRS.

Furthermore, Hong Beom-jun, CEO of Joheunchaek Sinsago, and Lee Dong-hyung, CEO of BKRL (Burger King), who are suspected of unfair practices against franchisees, were also selected as witnesses for the Fair Trade Commission audit.

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