Nomination Hearing Report for Kang Minsu, Commissioner of the National Tax Service, Adopted by Bipartisan Agreement

After the Vote, Opinions Diverge Over the 'Majority Opinion'

The confirmation hearing report for Kang Minsu, the nominee for Commissioner of the National Tax Service, was adopted on the 18th through bipartisan agreement. Accordingly, Kang is expected to assume office as Commissioner of the National Tax Service upon the President's approval.

Song Eon-seok, Chairman of the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee, is striking the gavel at the full committee meeting held at the National Assembly on the 18th. During the meeting, a hearing report on Kang Min-su, the nominee for Commissioner of the National Tax Service, was processed with both approval and disapproval opinions recorded by bipartisan agreement. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee held a plenary session that day and resolved to adopt the confirmation hearing report for Kang. Although committee members from both ruling and opposition parties approved the matter without significant objections, opinions diverged regarding which view?qualified or unqualified?represented the majority concerning Kang's suitability.

Park Daechul, a member of the People Power Party, stated, "It is very meaningful that the confirmation hearing report for a Cabinet member was adopted through bipartisan agreement after a long time." He added, "Judging from the overall opinion, the confirmation hearing results indicate that the majority opinion found no major issues and deemed the nominee qualified, which led to the report's adoption." He further explained, "However, the comprehensive opinion section contains 10 lines supporting qualification and 17 lines supporting disqualification. The lack of strong objections to this content reflects respect for the opposition members' cooperation," and emphasized, "The People Power Party also made a magnanimous concession on this point, which I wanted to record in the National Assembly's records through a procedural statement after the resolution."

Jeong Taeho, the opposition party's floor leader in the Strategy and Finance Committee and a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said, "It is inappropriate to say that the majority opinion was that the nominee was qualified. The clear majority opinion was that the nominee was unqualified," adding, "Nevertheless, they agreed to adopt the report to facilitate a smooth appointment."

Kang's confirmation hearing was held on the 16th. Key issues included Kang's past master's thesis in which he inappropriately described the December 12 military coup and the May 18 Democratization Movement, allegations of preferential treatment involving his wife's family business, and suspicions of politically motivated tax investigations conducted during his tenure as Commissioner of the Seoul Regional Tax Office.