Former Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs
"Do Not Use Election Candidacy as a Pretext for Ambiguous Attitude"
The National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee adopted the personnel hearing report on Park Min-sik, nominee for Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, on the 25th.
Nominee Park, a former prosecutor, served as a member of the 18th and 19th National Assembly. He worked as the first Commissioner of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration and was nominated on the 9th as the inaugural Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, which is scheduled to be launched in June following the upgrade of the agency to a ministry.
On this day, the Political Affairs Committee held a plenary session and adopted the report. In its comprehensive opinion, the committee stated, "He possesses broad understanding and expertise acquired during his tenure as Commissioner of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs and as a member of the National Assembly regarding veterans' policies. While serving as Commissioner, he achieved results such as establishing family relationship registration for stateless independence patriots, excluding veterans' benefits from the income recognition amount for basic pensions, and resolving long-standing issues like supporting medication costs when war veterans use designated hospitals."
It continued, "There were no issues concerning high-ranking official personnel verification principles, such as drunk driving, real estate speculation, plagiarism of academic theses, or military service problems, which had been pointed out in previous public office candidates. Furthermore, he has never owned or invested in virtual assets. There was also a qualified opinion that he has a strong policy will and conviction to implement policies desired by veterans' families and the public, such as transferring Seoul National Cemetery to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs through organic cooperation with the National Assembly and other government ministries in the future."
However, "Since the nominee can only serve as the inaugural Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs for a short period of about six months due to running in the general election, it is difficult to expect stable and continuous progress of work. Although it was important for him to clearly state that he would not use the ministerial position as a background for running in the general election, he maintained an ambiguous attitude and did not clarify his position despite repeated inquiries from the personnel hearing committee members," the report pointed out.
It further cited examples such as the promotion of the construction of the former President Rhee Syngman Memorial Hall, establishing a law firm and concurrently working as a lawyer during his tenure as a member of the National Assembly, and suspected preferential treatment as a former official, stating, "There were also opinions that he was unsuitable due to insufficient qualities and moral standards required for the Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs."
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