The National Assembly committee on Friday grilled National Police Agency chief nominee Lee Chul-sung over a past drunk driving accident and a thesis plagiarism allegation.

Lee, deputy chief of the NPA, has been nominated to succeed retiring NPA chief Kang Sin-myeong, who steps down on Aug. 22.

Cheong Wa Dae had said in its nomination announcement last month that he proved his ability by working himself up from a constable to his current position as chief superintendent general.

He also served as the presidential secretary of social security and domestic security between Sept. 2014 and Dec. 2015.

Upon his nomination, however, he has faced a series of allegations about his ethical standards.

The lawmakers belonging to the Security and Public Administration Committee questioned him on his drunk driving in 1993 that led to an accident.

The questioning session was halted midday, as the opposition lawmakers refused to continue questioning him following his admission that he did not disclose his occupation when he was caught driving under the influence and causing the accident.
“I was in a daze and in great shame while being investigated and failed to reveal my job at the time,” he said. He added that he was therefore not disciplined. Lee was working for the police agency in Gangwon district at the time. There were reportedly no casualties in the accident and he was fined 1 million won ($894). He also said that while it would have been appropriate to come forward, he had no such opportunity.

The opposition lawmakers immediately took issue with this and refused to question him further, saying the incident proved he was not fit for the post.

“This shows that fundamentally he is not qualified. What good would it do to hold a hearing on a person who is completely unqualified?” said Rep. Park Nam-choon, The Minjoo Party of Korea’s representative member of the committee.

They also grilled him on the suspicion of him allegedly plagiarizing his master’s thesis for Yonsei University in 2000 and on the debate over the police’s allegedly excessive crackdown on past protests by labor union members of a state broadcaster and by residents opposing construction of a high-voltage transmission tower in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, as he was then the authority in charge.

Lee defended the measures as having abided by the law and principles.

Lee also said that he will fully cooperate with the prosecution’s probe into Woo Byung-woo, a senior presidential secretary on civil affairs embroiled in corruption allegations.

Lee began his law enforcement career in 1982 as a constable at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in 1982 and passed the commissioned officer candidate exam in 1989. He has since served as the head of police stations in Gangwon Province and Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo branch.

He was also in charge of public relations for the NPA and served as the commissioner for the Gyeongnam (South Gyeongsang) Provincial Police Agency.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)