President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday appointed Kang Byung-kyu the new chief of the Ministry of Security and Public Administration, despite protests from the main opposition party.

The 60-year-old Kang served as the second vice minister from 2009 to 2010 during the Lee Myung-bak administration. He was nominated by President Park last month to succeed Yoo Jeong-bok, who resigned to run for mayor of Incheon in June’s local elections.

In his inauguration speech later in the day, Kang said he will work for a clean and fair election in June.

The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy has opposed Kang’s appointment, saying he falsely changed his address in order to send his children to better schools. Kang’s wife is also believed to illegally own farmland.

Kang admitted in last week’s confirmation hearing that some of his actions were against the law and apologized.

The NPAD objected by refusing to adopt a report on his confirmation hearing, since the party cannot directly reject a nomination.

Park once again requested the National Assembly to send her a report on Kang on Tuesday. Under the current law, if the parliament fails to adopt a report on a confirmation hearing and fails to send the report to the president upon request, the president is entitled to go ahead with the appointment.


By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)