Lee Hakjae, Incheon Airport Chief: "Not Running in Local Elections... Presidential Office's Personnel Interference Must Be Exposed"

"Misreporting by aides has undermined the dignity of the president"
"Presidential secretary ordering a special audit... an abuse of power"
"Allegations of personnel intervention by the land ministry must be clarified by the National Assembly"

Lee Hakjae, president of Incheon International Airport Corporation, who is resigning with four months left in his term, has stated that he has no intention of running as a candidate for Incheon mayor in the local elections this June. He also strongly criticized the presidential office for the personnel pressure and calls for his resignation that have continued since last year.

Lee Hakjae, President of Incheon International Airport Corporation, is holding a press conference and speaking at the Incheon Airport press room on the 25th. Lee, who announced his resignation on the 20th, is a three-term lawmaker who was appointed in 2023 by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. Recently, he has been engaged in a tense standoff with the government over airport security screening and personnel authority. Yonhap

On the 25th, at Incheon Airport, President Lee held a press briefing and said, "I am not considering running in this local election at all," adding, "I am resigning because I believe that stepping down now is how I can best fulfill the role of president for Incheon Airport and its executives and employees."

He went on to say, "Because of me, an absurd situation arose in which external political winds battered the organization, and when there was pressure for me to resign last November, I did not take it very seriously," adding, "But the intensity kept increasing, and the employees suffered far too much and were harmed, so I came to think that stepping down was the right thing to do."

Appointed in 2023 under the Yoon Sukyeol administration, President Lee has been clashing on social media with President Lee Jaemyung over a question the president raised during a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport work report: "At airport security screening, people are not allowed to take more than 10,000 dollars out of the country, but there are claims that if you hide it in a book as a bookmark it does not get caught. Is that actually true?"

Regarding President Lee Jaemyung's claim that airport security screening work falls under Incheon Airport's jurisdiction, President Lee Hakjae said, "The president was briefed incorrectly, but when I pointed out that this is not Incheon Airport's responsibility, he even called it the mindset of a thief," criticizing, "Because aides reported things incorrectly, it has greatly undermined the dignity of the president."

President Lee also argued that Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoonshik's order to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, after the work report, to conduct a special audit related to the restructuring of Incheon Airport's valet parking service was an overreach of authority and an abuse of power. He said, "The presidential chief of staff is a secretary who assists the president, so how can a secretary order the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to conduct a state audit?" adding, "Even if there was a problem, it should have been reported to the president and handled through the proper chain of command, including the prime minister."

He further insisted that the truth must be fully uncovered regarding suspicions that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's General Services Division intervened in personnel matters. President Lee said, "A regular personnel reshuffle at Incheon Airport was scheduled for January 1, but an official at the ministry told us to carry out the reshuffle after my retirement," adding, "He said this was the will of the presidential office, and I believe this must be fully brought to light by the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee."

He continued, "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is not a supreme power that reigns above Incheon Airport; it should be a support agency that assists institutions in Incheon," adding, "This (personnel intervention) is an enormous criminal act, and there is no way a low-level official would have done this while falsely invoking the presidential office on his own."

President Lee is scheduled to hold a retirement ceremony at Incheon Airport on the 26th.