Cho Tae-yong, the nominee for the Director of the National Intelligence Service, denied allegations that he received a large amount of rent suspected to be lobbying money from the American oil company ExxonMobil, stating, "I have never met anyone from ExxonMobil."
At the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 11th, Cho responded to a question from Jeong Jeom-sik, a member of the People Power Party, by saying, "The real estate lease contract with ExxonMobil was made through an intermediary."
He added, "Before and after the lease contract, I have never met anyone working at ExxonMobil, either officially or privately."
On the same day, Hong Ik-pyo, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, pointed out that Cho received a large amount of rent by leasing a house located in Itaewon to a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, suggesting the possibility of lobbying by the American company.
According to the National Intelligence Service, Mobil Korea Lubricants Co., a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, signed a contract to lease the 2nd and 3rd floors of Cho's Itaewon house for a monthly rent of 9.5 million won.
Subsequently, starting from September 2017, they prepaid 342 million won for three years' rent, and before the contract expired, they vacated the house and refunded 63.74 million won for about seven months.
Regarding this, Cho explained that it was not lobbying. He said, "At that time, I suddenly left public office due to the president's impeachment, and the possibility of returning to public office was not very high," adding, "I believe there was no reason to give me any benefits."
Cho also explained that before ExxonMobil's subsidiary, ANZ Bank (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group) had also leased the house, and the rent was similar.
Meanwhile, Cho assessed North Korea as "generally stable" and predicted that the North Korean regime is unlikely to collapse on its own in a short period.
He said, "There is no political force to check Kim Jong-un, and because there is a lot of indoctrination of North Korean residents, it can be seen as generally stable," adding, "Overall, it is difficult to predict what will happen to the regime."
However, Cho pointed out, "The contradictions within the North Korean regime are intensifying," and noted, "They have even enacted the Anti-Reactionary Thought Law to block North Korean residents from taking an interest in external trends, but there are many weaknesses in terms of controlling the residents."
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