Snowballing Allegations of Real Estate Speculation and Abuse of Power... Opposition Pushes for Two-Day Hearing for Lee Hyehoon

Personnel Verification for Lee Hyehoon Intensifies
Assemblyman Son Juha Exposes Allegations of Abuse of Power

The personnel verification process for Lee Hyehoon, the nominee for Minister of Planning and Budget, has entered full swing. The People Power Party has exposed additional allegations of abuse of power and has demanded a two-day confirmation hearing to thoroughly investigate previously raised suspicions. In contrast, the Democratic Party of Korea has stated that it will wait and observe until the hearing takes place.

On January 5, Assemblyman Jin Jongoh of the People Power Party held a press conference at the National Assembly and stated, "Assemblyman Son Juha of Jung-gu District Council in Seoul was excluded from party activities and received a two-month suspension of party membership as a severe disciplinary action due to the nominee's abuse of power when she was the party's committee chair for Jung-gu and Seongdong-gu, Seoul." He claimed that during the 2024 general election, the nominee attempted to bring a district councilor, who had been expelled from the party, into her campaign, but when Assemblyman Son opposed this, the nominee instigated the submission of false information, thereby abusing her authority. Assemblyman Son stated, "The nominee hired the expelled person's secretary and did not participate in concentrated campaign activities in the district during the election period, instead playing tennis. I submitted a petition containing these false claims and was referred to the Ethics Committee," adding, "I plan to release the related audio recordings in the evening."

Yonhap News Agency

Furthermore, Assemblyman Son said, "The nominee kept a district councilor with a history of making misogynistic remarks, such as 'drinking with women from Jung-gu ruins the taste of alcohol,' as her closest political ally simply because he treated her well, without any disciplinary action." She added, "The nominee also asked the chair of the Jung-gu District Council (affiliated with the Democratic Party) to look favorably upon the disciplinary case involving this councilor."

The allegations against the nominee are snowballing. In addition to previous accusations of verbal abuse and power harassment against her aides during her tenure as a National Assembly member, suspicions have also been raised regarding real estate speculation, alleging that she and her spouse purchased land and commercial properties throughout the Seoul metropolitan area, making a profit of over 3 billion KRW (approximately 2.3 million USD).

On this day, once the nominee's request for a confirmation hearing is sent to the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee, which is in charge of the hearing, negotiations on the schedule are expected to begin. The People Power Party has demanded a two-day hearing, signaling a rigorous verification process. Park Sooyoung, the opposition secretary of the Strategy and Finance Committee from the People Power Party, said on YTN Radio, "Once the confirmation hearing proposal is referred to the committee, a full-scale verification process will begin with official documents. Reports are coming into the party's tip-off center, and given the numerous allegations raised so far, a one-day hearing is insufficient."

The Democratic Party of Korea has opted for a direct approach. Reflecting the strong will of the President to appoint the nominee, the party has instructed its lawmakers to refrain from commenting on the related controversies. On January 4, Jo Seungrae, Secretary General of the Democratic Party, said, "It would be best for individual party members to refrain from making separate comments regarding the nominee."