Corrected from "Controversial" Answer to "Refusal to Answer"
Lee Jin-sook, the nominee for the Chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission, who has been criticized for far-right views, responded at the confirmation hearing by saying she would not answer questions regarding the forced mobilization of comfort women by the Japanese military, calling it a "controversial issue."
Lee Jin-sook, nominee for Chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission, is speaking at the confirmation hearing held on the 25th at the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee. [Image source=Yonhap News]
On the 26th, during the confirmation hearing of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee, Chairperson Choi Min-hee asked, "What is your stance on the Japanese military comfort women? Was it forced or voluntary?" Lee responded as above.
When Chairperson Choi asked again, "What is controversial about it?" the nominee corrected herself, saying, "I withdraw the statement that it is a controversial issue. However, I will not answer individual matters." When asked if she was part of the New Right, she denied it, saying, "I am not New Right."
Related questions continued. Chairperson Choi asked consecutively, "Do you agree with the statement that 'Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula and modernized it'?" and "The problem with the current Korea-Japan alliance is that once they become allies, the Self-Defense Forces can enter Korea. Do you support the entry of the Self-Defense Forces into Korea?" The nominee gave the same answer to these questions.
When Chairperson Choi pressed, "Why are you not answering this?" the nominee replied again, "Even if I share the same thoughts as Chairperson Choi, I will not answer. I will not respond to individual matters." Currently, Japan denies the fact of forced mobilization of comfort women.
On the same day in the morning, on the radio program Kim Hyun-jung's News Show, Chairperson Choi said, "I judge that this person has a brain structure similar to that of a spokesperson for the Japanese government and has a far-right brain structure."
The nominee's confirmation hearing was held over three days from the 24th to the 26th. The questioning time alone exceeded 36 hours, setting a record for the longest duration in history. Although the official confirmation hearing has ended, she must appear once more before the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee on the 2nd of next month. This is because opposition party members of the committee approved a list of witnesses for 'urgent inquiries regarding the dysfunctional operation of the Korea Communications Commission and verification of suspicions about the nominee for the Chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission' on that day.
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