Post-Chuseok 'Confirmation Hearing Political Battle' Expected Between Ruling and Opposition Parties... Key Points to Watch

Hearing for Yoon In-chon, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nominee on the 5th
Kim Haeng, Minister of Gender Equality and Family Nominee, to be Held on the Same Day

A confirmation hearing to decide the heads of two government ministries will be held after a six-day long Chuseok holiday. This is expected to be the first major confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties in the October National Assembly session. Since both Yoo In-chon, the nominee for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Kim Haeng, the nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, have faced calls for 'withdrawal of nomination' from the opposition, the hearing on the 5th is expected to see a barrage of attacks from the opposition.

According to political circles on the 2nd, the hearing for Yoo’s nomination is expected to focus on allegations that he managed the 'cultural blacklist' during his tenure as minister in the MB administration.

Yoo In-chon, How Will He Overcome the 'MB Blacklist' Offensive?

On the 14th, Yoo In-chon, the nominee for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, responded to reporters' questions while riding a bicycle to his office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

Yoo served as Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism for about three years from 2008 to 2011 during the Lee Myung-bak administration. When the Moon Jae-in government took office in 2017, the National Intelligence Service’s 'Task Force for Clearing Deep-rooted Evils' announced that during Yoo’s tenure as minister, the MB government created and managed blacklists and whitelists of cultural and artistic figures. The blacklist included a total of 82 names, who were reportedly victims of external pressure.

On the 14th of last month, when Yoo first came to work to prepare for the hearing, he denied the blacklist allegations, saying, "Although there was a confrontational relationship with the arts community, there was no such (blacklist)." He added, "If the blacklist issue comes up again, I intend to organize things so that such incidents never happen again."

The cultural community’s views on Yoo are divided. The Culture Freedom Movement, classified as conservative, officially expressed support for Yoo through a joint statement involving 85 organizations on the 20th of last month. They said, "We expect Yoo to demonstrate the conviction, consistency, strong drive, and achievements he showed during his tenure as Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism through more mature experience." On the other hand, a group of cultural and artistic figures opposing Yoo’s appointment criticized, "Appointing Yoo In-chon as Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism declares that the Yoon Seok-yeol government is an anti-democratic, unconstitutional totalitarian regime."

The Democratic Party criticized Yoo on the 13th of last month, when he was nominated, calling him "the main culprit who made reckless remarks and oppressed cultural and artistic figures in the past," and "a typical shameless recycled candidate." They also pressured for the withdrawal of Yoo’s nomination until the hearing schedule was agreed upon. The ruling party has refrained from mentioning the blacklist and emphasized Yoo’s experience and capabilities. On the same day, Jeon Ju-hye, the floor spokesperson for the People Power Party, commented, "Yoo is a proven figure who demonstrated his capabilities as Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism in the past."

Kim Haeng, From 'Stock Parking' to 'Sexism' Controversies

Kim Haeng, nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, is responding to reporters' questions while on her way to the campaign office in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, on the 14th. Photo by Heo Younghan younghan@

The biggest controversy surrounding Kim Haeng, the nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, is the issue of 'stock parking.' The key point is how Kim handled her shares in Social News (the operator of Wikitree), which she founded, after being appointed as Blue House spokesperson in 2013.

Kim explained that she sold all her shares to co-founder and former CEO Gong Hoon, and that her husband’s shares were sold to her sister-in-law. This raised suspicions of 'parking'?an attempt to evade blind trust by transferring her husband’s shares to his sister-in-law. Under the Public Officials Ethics Act, the sister-in-law is not considered a related party required to place shares in blind trust. However, critics argue that selling shares to a close associate contradicts the spirit of the blind trust system.

Additionally, there were further allegations that Kim’s own shares were also 'parked' with her sister-in-law. On the morning of the 22nd of last month, when asked about this on her way to the office, Kim said, "I don’t remember exactly where a few shares went at that time," and "There may be some confusion about the number of shares." She emphasized, "I followed the instructions of the Blind Trust Committee, so if someone suddenly says I parked shares, I’m surprised. Parking means transferring shares to the sister-in-law without payment and then taking them back."

As the minister in charge of women’s policies, Kim has also been criticized for sexist remarks in articles she wrote in the past. Controversial article titles under the name 'Reporter Kim Haeng' on Wikitree included "Women=Problems" and "Professor Eong-jjang’s Fantastic Backside." Kim explained that these issues arose during the transition from a platform where citizen reporters wrote articles under nicknames to a 'closed platform.' She said, "At that time, over 23,000 citizen reporter accounts were deleted, and many high-traffic articles were redistributed to existing staff accounts, so those articles appear under my name, but the actual authors are different."

There was also controversy over Kim’s appointment being linked to her 'close ties' with First Lady Kim Geon-hee. It was reported that Wikitree, founded by Kim, and Kobana Contents, associated with the First Lady, jointly hosted an exhibition. Kim later stopped doorstepping on her way to work, calling the fake news excessive.

As allegations against Kim continued to surface, the ruling and opposition parties only finalized the hearing schedule on the 27th of last month, just before Chuseok, setting it for the 5th. On the 25th, Shin Hyun-young, the Democratic Party’s secretary of the National Assembly’s Gender Equality and Family Committee, held a press conference calling for the withdrawal of Kim’s nomination.