National Assembly begins confirmation hearings as Gender Equality nominee resigns
2 sources · South Korea
Who reported this
- The Hankyoreh
- The Korea Herald
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
Every source for this story reports from South Korea.
The National Assembly has begun a week of seven Cabinet confirmation hearings, starting with Supreme Court justice nominee Kim Sung-soo. Kim faced questioning regarding alleged tax evasion and real estate irregularities involving a high end apartment in Gangnam-gu rented from his brother-in-law. Kim apologized for the concern and stated he has begun paying delinquent gift tax, denying any intention to receive the property as a gift.
Prior to the hearings, Gender Equality Minister nominee Rep. Yong Hye-in withdrew her name from consideration on Sunday. Yong stated that the ruling Democratic Party of Korea suggested she make a decision due to a lack of public consensus regarding her intention to keep her proportional representative seat while serving as minister. The presidential office stated it respects her decision. This marks the fourth time a minister nominee has withdrawn during the Lee Jae Myung administration.
Attention is now turning to Justice Minister nominee Rep. Kim Seung-won. He faces allegations of involvement in a stock pump and dump scheme related to a lobbyist's request to approve a COVID-19 treatment clinical trial plan for Genencell in 2021. A Gallup Korea survey indicated that a majority of the public deems Kim unfit for the post.
Other scheduled hearings include nominee Lee Hyoung-il for deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Rep. Lee So-young for SMEs and startups minister, former general Kang Shin-chul for defense minister, and Hong Jee-sun for land, infrastructure and transport. Choi Kil-su is scheduled for a hearing for the independent inspector general post on Friday.
Outlets with a center-right lean framed the event as a superweek of pressure on the administration and a battle to push out embattled nominees. Outlets with a left lean focused on the failure of the administration's vetting process and the resignation of Rep. Yong as a victory for public demand for fairness.
How each side framed it
- Left
- Framed the events as a failure of the Blue House vetting process and a victory for public common sense.
- Centre-right
- Framed the events as a high-pressure 'superweek' where the opposition party seeks to remove problematic nominees.
Sources
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.