Justice Party Pulls Out Death Note: "Minister Candidates Im Hye-sook and Park Jun-young Are Hard to Accept"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] Ahead of the ministerial nominee confirmation hearings on the 4th, the Justice Party has brought out its "Death Note." The Death Note is a nickname that means candidates deemed unqualified by the Justice Party will be forced to withdraw.

On the morning of the same day, Park Won-seok, Secretary-General of the Justice Party, said in an interview with CBS Radio's "Kim Hyun-jung's News Show," in response to the host's question, "Among the five ministerial nominees, who are you paying the most attention to?" that "The majority within the party holds the opinion that candidates like Im Hye-sook, nominee for Minister of Science and ICT, and Park Jun-young, nominee for Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, are difficult to accept even by the standards of the public's expectations."

Secretary-General Park emphasized, "Nominee Noh Hyung-wook for Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport was actually the most notable position in this appointment," adding, "Due to the real estate issues, the current administration has faced many controversies, and because of the controversies surrounding former Minister Byun Chang-heum, the key question is who will become the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to stabilize real estate policies toward the end of the term."

He criticized the allegations regarding the large-scale import of ceramics by nominee Park's spouse, saying, "This is a case of abusing the privileged status held by a diplomat," and added, "Even if it was the spouse's hobby, including such a large quantity of ceramics in diplomatic baggage and bringing them in itself is inappropriate; if they were unaware of this, they lack the qualifications to be a public official."

Regarding the allegations about nominee Im's thesis, he pointed out, "There are suspicions that she used her own students to accumulate the thesis achievements necessary for promotion to associate professor, which is considered a very inappropriate act as a researcher and scholar."