Choi Su-yeon, Naver CEO, and Lim Byung-yong, GS Construction Vice Chairman, to Attend National Assembly Audit

Welfare Committee Demands CNS CEO Attendance for 2 Consecutive Years
Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee Faces Party Clash Over Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway and Real Estate Statistics Manipulation
Witness Adoption Disputed... Agreed to Continue Discussions

Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon and former idol group member Nam Tae-hyun have been respectively selected as a witness and a reference witness for the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee's audit scheduled for next month. A total of 11 people, including public officials from Yangpyeong County in Gyeonggi Province and contractors, have been listed as witnesses in connection with allegations of preferential treatment in the Seoul-Yangpyeong highway route change, as well as Im Byung-yong, Vice Chairman of GS Construction, regarding the apartment collapse accident in Geomdan New Town, Incheon.

On the 21st, the Health and Welfare Committee held a plenary meeting and approved the plan to conduct a national audit of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety from November 11 to 25. They decided to request the attendance of 15 general witnesses and 33 reference witnesses for the audit.

Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver, unveiled the large language model 'Hyper ClovaX' for super-large artificial intelligence (AI) services at the 'Team Naver Conference Dan23' held on the 24th of last month at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

On the 12th of the same month, the committee selected CEO Choi as a witness for the Ministry of Health and Welfare audit regarding the issue of personal medical information leakage, and Costco Korea CEO Cho Min-soo as a witness for failing to fulfill the obligation to install workplace daycare centers. For the audit of the Social Security Information Service, the CEO of LG CNS was summoned as a witness for the second consecutive year in relation to the next-generation social security information system error incident. Following last year's former CEO Kim Young-seop, current CEO Hyun Shin-kyun will appear as a witness this year.

Furthermore, the committee decided to call Nam Tae-hyun as a reference witness for the Ministry of Health and Welfare audit to inquire about drug rehabilitation policies, as he is currently undergoing drug rehabilitation treatment. For the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety audit, Carrot Market CEOs Kim Yong-hyun and Hwang Do-yeon were selected as reference witnesses for Q&A regarding the trading of used pharmaceuticals, and Kim Ji-min, operator of the fish-related YouTube channel 'Ipjil-ui Chueok TV,' was selected as a reference witness concerning issues related to imported food testing and analysis.

Im Byung-yong, Vice Chairman and CEO of GS Construction, is appearing as a witness at the comprehensive audit of the Office for Government Policy Coordination held at the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee in 2018, responding to lawmakers' questions. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee adopted a plan to conduct a national audit of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korea Expressway Corporation, Korea Railroad Corporation, Korea Real Estate Board, Seoul Metropolitan Government, and Gyeonggi Province from November 10 to 27.

During the witness selection process, the ruling and opposition parties argued over whether to summon former Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mi and former Blue House policy chiefs Jang Ha-sung and Kim Soo-hyun regarding allegations of real estate statistics manipulation during the Moon Jae-in administration. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party insisted on summoning former lawmaker Kim Seon-kyo, who served as Yangpyeong County governor, and Kim Mo, President Yoon Seok-youl’s brother-in-law, as witnesses concerning the Seoul-Yangpyeong highway preferential treatment allegations.

The party floor leaders agreed to continue consultations regarding additional witness selections.