Daejeon MBC On-Site Verification by Opposition: "Lee Jin-suk's Unauthorized Overseas Trip Just Before Resignation"

Opposition lawmakers belonging to the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee (STIBC) claimed on the 28th that "we have confirmed circumstances indicating that candidate Lee Jin-suk, nominee for the Chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission, took an unauthorized overseas trip just before submitting her resignation letter to Daejeon MBC."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Democratic Party and Innovation Party lawmakers from the STIBC held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office on the same day, stating, "Yesterday, during the on-site verification at Daejeon MBC, we secured the corporate card usage records of candidate Lee's chauffeur." Opposition lawmakers from the STIBC said that candidate Lee refused to submit corporate card usage details during her tenure as president of Daejeon MBC, prompting them to visit the site in person the previous day.

Democratic Party lawmaker Hwang Jeong-ah asserted, "The last recorded use of the corporate card by candidate Lee's chauffeur was on December 22, 2017, at a gas station in Incheon International Airport and a restaurant inside the airport," adding, "There were no usage records afterward until January 2 of the following year, when the chauffeur used the card again at the airport."

The opposition lawmakers emphasized that ▲ there are no records of candidate Lee's overseas business trips from December 23 to January 1 at Daejeon MBC, the interim period ▲ and that a separate corporate card held by the candidate was not used at all during this period, suggesting that the candidate likely traveled abroad for personal reasons during this time.

Democratic Party lawmaker Noh Jong-myeon stated, "We confirmed that a document submitted to the president on November 30, 2017, was not approved for an entire month and was only approved on January 2 of the following year," adding, "She received her salary without working for the company for a whole month." Lawmaker Noh also pointed out that candidate Lee exceeded the monthly limit of 2.2 million KRW on her personal corporate card by spending an average of over 4.2 million KRW per month, with the excess amount being processed as 'entertainment expenses.'

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Innovation Party lawmakers Lee Hae-min and Jeong Chun-saeng, the floor leader and deputy floor leader respectively, criticized candidate Lee in a separate statement for evading answers regarding the issue of Japanese military sexual slavery victims during the confirmation hearing, saying, "A bigger problem than the misuse of the corporate card is her pro-Japanese far-right historical perspective."

Opposition lawmakers said, "It has been revealed that candidate Lee obstructed the submission of Daejeon MBC's materials under the pretext of 'personal information non-consent' without any legal basis." They added, "We will hold her legally accountable for these illegal and unlawful acts," and "We will put the candidate not before the Korea Communications Commission but in front of the investigative authorities' photo line."