Prime Minister nominee Hwang Kyo-ahn on Monday denied allegations of ethical lapses during his 30-year public career, including his alleged draft-dodging, on the first day of his three-day confirmation hearing in the National Assembly.
Hwang also called recent revisions to parliamentary laws allowing lawmakers to overrule presidential decrees “possibly unconstitutional,” echoing fears among Park Geun-hye administration officials that the opposition could use the new law to overturn presidential orders.
The prime minister nominee also repeated government statements that Park had done her best to contain the MERS virus, apparently rebuffing criticism that the Park administration had failed to contain the deadly virus that has left six dead and thousands under quarantine here.
“There are a lot of things the president must address. The president has done her best to address public safety concerns consistently and vigorously, and she will continue those efforts based on a government-centered approach (to the MERS crisis),” Hwang said.
P.M. nominee Hwang Kyo-ahn. (Chung Hee-cho/The Korea Herald)
Park named Hwang, the incumbent justice minister, to serve as her new prime minister last month after then-Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo resigned due to growing suspicion that he had accepted illegal campaign funds during campaigning for the April 2013 parliamentary by-elections.
Hwang’s appointment is subject to parliamentary approval.
But opposition lawmakers have accused Hwang of a series of ethical lapses during his public career, including accusations that he had illegally avoided military service in 1980 and that Hwang had illicitly meddled in recent investigations into sensitive politicized cases.
Hwang had kept silent on the accusations until his hearing began Monday.
“I assure you my skin disease (made me) medically designated unfit to serve (on active duty) by a medical officer,” Hwang said, in response to questions on whether he had lied about having hives.
“I suffered from (hives) for 17 years after entering college,” Hwang added. “There was a rule (in 1980) saying that I had to receive three months of treatment. If it did not heal in that time I was exempt. I received up to six months of treatment but was not able to get rid of (the disease).”
Opposition lawmakers also accused Hwang of meddling in the state probes into the 2012 presidential election electioneering scandal by exerting pressure as the incumbent justice minister on prosecutors to partially cover up the case, a claim that the former prosecutor denied.
Former National Intelligence Service chief Won Sei-hoon is facing charges of having spread unconfirmed rumors that opposition candidates running against President Park during the 2012 election were pro-communist and pro-North Korea officials.
Hwang also added that he would quit his job as the justice minister if lawmakers vote against his appointment to the Prime Minister’s Office, an unlikely possibility, as the governing party holds a majority in the legislature.
By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)