After Many Twists and Turns, Yuinchon-Kim Haeng Hearing Held... Opposition's 'Piercing Scrutiny'

Kim Haeng Confirmation Hearing Proceeds with Apology from Kwon In-sook, Chair of the Gender Equality Committee
Yoo In-chon Confirmation Hearing Faces Pro and Con Press Conferences from Cultural Artists Before Start

The confirmation hearings for Yoo In-chon, nominee for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Kim Haeng, nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, were held at the National Assembly on the 5th. Although the hearings were held after many twists and turns, a difficult path is expected due to significant differences in the opposition party's views on the candidates' qualifications.

Kim Haeng, the nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, is attending the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 5th and is drinking water.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The confirmation hearing for nominee Kim, which was feared to be disrupted after the opposition party unilaterally approved the schedule, was barely held after Kwon In-sook, chairperson of the National Assembly Gender Equality and Family Committee (Democratic Party), expressed regret. At the start of the hearing, Chairperson Kwon said, "I express regret over the ruling party's decision last month on the 27th to hold the hearing without their attendance," adding, "I will ensure that future proceedings are carried out smoothly through bipartisan agreement." In response to Chairperson Kwon's apology, Jung Kyung-hee, the People Power Party's Gender Equality and Family Committee whip, said, "We accept the apology," and added, "We will proceed well with today's scheduled hearing based on an agreement between the two party whips."

Although the ruling and opposition party floor leaders reached a broad agreement to hold the hearings the day before, and the hearing proceeded narrowly due to Chairperson Kwon's apology, the opposition party continued its relentless assault on nominee Kim. The opposition began scrutinizing allegations that Kim had a close relationship with First Lady Kim Geon-hee and suspicions related to Wikitree, which Kim founded.

The suspicion of a close relationship with the First Lady arose because many events were held jointly by Wikitree, founded by nominee Kim, and Kobana Contents, established by the First Lady. Additionally, questions arose about the process of transferring management rights of Wikitree when Kim served as the Blue House spokesperson in 2013. Although nominee Kim claims to have sold all her shares at that time, records verified through her career certificate show she maintained the position of vice president of Wikitree. Controversy also surrounds the fact that she received an annual salary of about 75 million KRW during overseas training in this period. Other issues include allegations that shares of Social News were 'parked' under another person's name.

The confirmation hearing for nominee Yoo was heated even before it began.

Before the hearing, cultural and sports figures from both ruling and opposition parties held press conferences at the National Assembly expressing support and opposition. Cultural and artistic figures opposing the nomination stated in their press conference, "During the Lee Myung-bak administration, when Yoo served as Minister of Culture, he pressured critical and progressive heads of cultural and artistic institutions to resign and later established and implemented the ‘Cultural Power Balancing Strategy,’ which became the foundation of the cultural blacklist incident," adding, "Appointing Yoo as Minister of Culture is tantamount to abandoning the will and responsible attitude to resolve the blacklist issue."

Following this, cultural and artistic figures expressing support said, "Nominee Yoo has lived as an artist all his life, always communicating with the field, and has demonstrated fairness and sincerity by carrying out artistic activities without public support," adding, "We judge him to be the right person to fulfill the historic mission at a time when policies for the future, the people, and cultural figures are urgently needed."

At the hearing that day, the opposition party promised rigorous scrutiny. Hong Ik-pyo, floor leader of the Democratic Party, said, "Through consultation between floor leaders, we prevented the unprecedented situation of ministerial appointments without hearings, but nominee Kim's evasion and the ruling party's attitude are beyond disappointing and very threatening," adding, "The Democratic Party will thoroughly verify the two nominees according to the procedures stipulated by the Constitution and the National Assembly Act." He continued, "After the confirmation hearings, we will once again ask the public to judge the two nominees."

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