Tourism Corporation Vice President's Remarks on "Busan Village"... Opposition Angered, Saying "Sprinkling Salt on Expo"

Recording of Vice President Lee Jaehwan Released at the National Assembly Audit

Lee Jae-hwan, Vice President of the Korea Tourism Organization, sparked fierce criticism centered around the Busan area after a recording was revealed during a government audit in which he disparaged Busan as a "Busan village."

Earlier, on the 19th, Kim Yoon-duk, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, disclosed the recording of Vice President Lee's remarks during the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee audit. In the recording, Vice President Lee said about the 'Visit Korea Year' commemorative event held in Busan last August, "What is this, why hold it there? A neighborhood event? Are they just throwing it in Busan now? (...) That’s also a Busan village."

Regarding the remarks, Vice President Lee said, "I sincerely apologize," but before the recording was made public, when asked by opposition lawmakers whether he had made such statements, he replied, "To my recollection, I have never said such things," adding to the controversy over perjury.

On the 11th, Lee Jae-hwan, Vice President of the Korea Tourism Organization, delivered a greeting at the opening ceremony of the '2023 Korea Theme Tourism Expo' held at Walkerhill Hotel in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 23rd, Lim Jeong-seo, Deputy Spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Korea, issued a statement saying, "The Vice President of the Korea Tourism Organization is sprinkling salt on the bid for the 2030 World Expo by belittling Busan as a 'Busan village,'" and raised his voice demanding, "The Yoon Seok-yeol administration must promptly decide to dismiss all parachute appointments."

On the same day, the Democratic Party’s Busan City Party also criticized Vice President Lee’s "Busan village" remark as an inappropriate slander and called for his resignation.

Choi Hyung-wook, Chief Spokesperson of the Democratic Party’s Busan City Party, said, "We condemn the outrageous remarks of Lee Jae-hwan, Vice President of the Korea Tourism Organization, who trampled on the pride of the proud 3.5 million citizens of Busan who have led democratization and modernization."

Meanwhile, Vice President Lee sparked another controversy recently during the government audit when a video was revealed showing him referring to himself as a "parachute" in front of the organization’s employees.

In the video, Vice President Lee stepped onto the stage of an auditorium filled with deputy manager-level employees and said, "I am a parachute. A parachute. That person also came as a parachute like me, so he must have been thinking about packing up quickly," among other remarks. Along with this, Vice President Lee mentioned, "I made a request after meeting Senior Won Hee-ryong, Minister Won Hee-ryong," and "I have known Mayor Oh Se-hoon for over 15 years," revealing his connections with Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Oh Se-hoon, Mayor of Seoul. Lee, who took office in December last year, served as a standing advisor for the Economic 2nd Division of the Presidential Transition Committee before becoming Vice President of the organization.

In response, the Democratic Party pointed out, "Vice President Lee Jae-hwan showed the typical 'three lacks (不)' of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration’s appointments: lack of competence, fairness, and common sense," and criticized, "He called himself a parachute and ordered the production of a personal promotional video for the organization’s employees." They added, "The recent government audit also revealed the absurd remark, 'Why hold the event in a Busan village?'" and stated, "This is a blatant example that proves the disastrous reality of personnel affairs in the presidential office, which cannot fall any further."

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