Published : Feb. 8, 2015 - 19:23
Prime Minister nominee Rep. Lee Wan-koo has come under fire for allegedly abusing his power over the media to withhold unfavorable stories about him.
Lee Wan-koo
The latest controversy follows a series of other allegations including academic plagiarism and real estate speculation.
His confirmation hearings, initially scheduled on Monday and Tuesday, were postponed by a day amid the intensifying controversy.
Lee, who served as the floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party until his nomination last month, has been accused by Rep. Kim Kyung-hyup of calling media executives to tell them not to publish stories about his alleged ethical lapses.
He also reportedly told young reporters on Friday that “journalists can either build their career or ruin it depending on what I tell their bosses at work.”
Lee issued an apology on the same day, saying his remarks were inappropriate albeit made in an informal setting.
As an incumbent National Assembly member, Lee was expected to pass the confirmation hearings without many obstacles.
So far, no incumbent lawmaker has withdrawn their nominations over criticism during or after their hearings at the National Assembly for high government posts.
Lee’s scheduled hearings are expected to focus on his alleged ethical violations, including power abuse over the media, plagiarizing his 1994 doctoral thesis and intentionally omitting parts of his annual wealth report.
He also has been accused of real estate speculation. Last week, Lee’s second son underwent a public medical examination to prove that he had suffered a knee injury and therefore was legitimately exempted from the nation’s mandatory military service.
Following the series of allegations, Rep. Jin Sun-mee from the main opposition party on Sunday accused Lee’s second son of not paying some 24 million won ($22,000) in national health insurance premiums since 2011.
According to Jin, Lee’s son purposely did not register himself as a single-person household although he was working at an American law firm from 2011 to last year, earning 230 million won a year.
The 34-year-old got away with not paying the premiums by falsely staying as his father’s dependent on legal documents, Jin said.
The unexpected criticism over Lee and his family’s past doings may complicate things for Cheong Wa Dae, which orchestrated the small-scale Cabinet reshuffle ― including nominating Lee as the new prime minister ― aimed to regain public confidence in the administration.
Last year, President Park Geun-hye’s bid to replace the incumbent Prime Minister Chung Hong-won ended in failure after her appointments of two nominees ― Ahn Dae-hee and Moon Chang-keuk ― fell through.
Park decided to retain Chung, who last year offered to resign amid criticism of the government’s handling of the sinking of the ferry Sewol, after the nomination debacle.
Moon, a former newspaper writer, dropped his nomination over mounting criticism of his controversial, pro-Japanese past remarks, while former prosecutor Ahn withdrew amid ethical lapse allegations that he received favors from his prosecutorial network.
Neither Moon nor Ahn reached their confirmation hearings.
By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)