26th Ministry of Employment and Labor Minister Hearing
Controversy Over History of Power Abuse, Assault, and Verbal Abuse
Opposition: "No Qualification as Cabinet Member... Unfit"
Statements by Kim Moon-soo, the nominee for Minister of Employment and Labor, ahead of next week's confirmation hearing are causing continuous controversy. The hearing is expected to focus not only on Kim's past history of offensive remarks, abuse of power, and assault but also on his anti-labor stance, colorism, and far-right tendencies.
The National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee will hold the confirmation hearing for Kim on the morning of the 26th at the National Assembly. Opposition party members of the committee have announced a full-scale offensive, arguing that Kim's extreme far-right remarks and actions make him unfit to serve as a Cabinet member, who is required to maintain political neutrality.
According to materials recently released by Kim Ju-young, the opposition party's secretary of the Environment and Labor Committee and a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, Kim Moon-soo stated on August 15, 2019, at the 'Liberation Day Moon Jae-in Resignation National Salvation Rally' held in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, “Do you see that red-colored prosecution office that arrested innocent former President Park Geun-hye under the name of clearing deep-rooted evils, starting with that red-colored Yoon Seok-youl who is the Prosecutor General?” Also, in February this year, while serving as chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Council, he wrote on his Facebook that former President Park was “impeached without fault,” and at the inauguration ceremony of the council chairman in October 2022, he said, “The Constitutional Court, which cited the impeachment motion, was also wrong.”
The Democratic Party criticized on the 5th of this month through a statement, saying, “Is it acceptable for a Cabinet nominee to deny the constitutional procedure and values of impeachment, which were carried out by the legislative branch, the National Assembly, and the judiciary, the Constitutional Court, in accordance with the will of the people?”
During the 2018 local elections campaign, Kim disparaged the Sewol ferry disaster memorial as a “death ritual tourism,” and during the 2019 wildfires in Gangwon Province, he mocked by saying, “They liked candlelight protests, now there are wildfires all over the country,” drawing criticism.
The labor community has also strongly opposed Kim's anti-labor remarks. In August 2009, during his tenure as Governor of Gyeonggi Province, Kim referred to the Ssangyong Motor strike as a “suicide squad.” Regarding the Cargo Solidarity strike in February 2022, he said, “Compensation claims are the special remedy for illegal strikes,” and in March 2023, he praised the Gwangju Global Motors factory, the country's first win-win regional job model, by saying, “I was impressed. There is no union.”
Kim's actions during his tenure as chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Council (Gyeongsanowi) are also expected to come under scrutiny. The opposition plans to raise issues such as the fact that no tripartite meetings were held for nearly two years after Kim's appointment as chairman and the excessive spending of his corporate card for business promotion expenses.
According to data released by Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Yong-woo, during Kim's 22 months as chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Council, he received a salary of 121.9 million won and spent a total of 48.86 million won on corporate card business promotion expenses. However, the only plenary meeting held during his tenure was a written meeting in December 2022, and the meeting he personally presided over as chairman was the one on February 6 of this year, which was both the first and last. Lee criticized, “Excessive spending on business promotion expenses during a near shutdown with almost no work is an act that does not conform to public service ethics,” adding, “If he only collected allowances without proper activities, it means he wasted taxpayers' money by abusing his position.”
On the other hand, ruling party members of the Environment and Labor Committee plan to question Kim about what plans he has to ensure the smooth progress of government employment and labor-related projects, policies to overcome low birth rates, and current issues faced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
