Choi Hwi-young: "I Was Running a Startup When My Daughter Joined Naver Subsidiary... No Involvement in Her Employment"

Choi Hwi-young, the nominee for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, claimed that when his daughter was employed at a Naver subsidiary, he had already left Naver and was running a startup called Triple, insisting that he was not involved in her employment.

Choi Hwi-young began his career as a journalist at Yonhap News and YTN, then worked at Yahoo Korea before joining NHN in 2002. From May 2009 to July 2013, he served as CEO of NHN Business Platform, the predecessor of Naver, and continued as a management advisor at Naver until June 2015 after stepping down as CEO. Controversy has arisen over the fact that Choi's daughter worked for about three years at Wave Media, a subsidiary Naver established in the United States.

At the National Assembly confirmation hearing on July 29, Choi emphasized that his daughter was hired by Wave Media in 2016, after he had already resigned from Naver.

Choi explained, "My daughter graduated from university in May 2016, and she was scheduled to start working at a global accounting firm in August of the same year. She had about two and a half months free before starting work, so she returned to Korea for a short period. At that time, her friend was working part-time at Naver, and my daughter also joined Naver as a part-timer for about 20 days. It seems that during that period, she learned about Naver establishing an entertainment-related startup in the United States. She applied for a position there, and I only found out about her application later. At the time, I believed my daughter would be joining the global accounting firm in August. Also, I was running a startup called Triple at that time, so I had no involvement whatsoever in her employment. Naver does not hire people simply because a former CEO makes a recommendation."

Choi further explained that his daughter graduated from the Stern School of Business at New York University and that the global accounting firm where she was scheduled to work was Ernst & Young.

Choi also refuted allegations of real estate speculation in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. The investment plan for the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster was announced in 2018, but Choi is under suspicion for purchasing land in Yongin prior to this announcement.

Choi explained that he bought a house in Yongin in 2010 to live in a country house before the semiconductor cluster investment plan was announced. He added that he purchased additional land in Yongin in 2017 and 2018 because the landowners offered to sell it to him at that time.

Choi stated, "In 2010, I bought a house in Yongin to live in a country house. The land I purchased in 2017 and 2018 was adjacent to my house and was landlocked. The original owners decided to sell, so I bought it. I did not actively seek to buy the land; the owners contacted me to ask if I was interested, and since it was attached to my house, I thought it would be helpful, so I purchased it. I had no knowledge whatsoever about the creation of the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster."

Choi added, "Most of my assets are stocks from the companies where I have worked. My real estate holdings are minimal."