hankyoreh

Tension is brewing between the ruling and opposition parties ahead of the confirmation hearing for Hyun In-taek, recently nominated to be the nation’s new unification minister. During the hearing to be held today, opposition parties plan to lay bare what they say are the problems with the Cabinet reshuffle the government undertook on Jan. 19, citing the government’s loose standards in choosing candidates for key posts. Though burdened by a raft of allegations against the unification minister-designate, the ruling Grand National Party remained on the defensive, saying that the allegations against Hyun are just a political tactic. The main opposition Democratic Party, which is critical of Hyun’s hard-line stance against North Korea, is ready to block confirmation of Hyun, calling him an “anti-unification speculator.”

Hyun is facing a wide-range of allegations. He is under fire for plagiarizing one of his own articles, questions about previous land transactions, and, for underreporting the price of a house he sold in Seoul in 2002, tax evasion. Suspicion is also mounting over where he got the money to buy an apartment in Seocho, an affluent district in southern Seoul.

Opposition party lawmakers say the allegations are enough to deny confirmation of Hyun, a key architect of President Lee Myung-bak’s North Korea policy, and demand the designate voluntarily step down. DP spokesperson Kim Yoo-Jung said in a commentary, “There seems to be no end to the allegations. Given that ministers are required to have some level of morality, Hyun should step down.”

Liberty Forward Party spokesman Park Sun-young agreed. “Don’t cause further controversy by offering false excuses for the self-plagiarism scandal. For Hyun, the best choice is to step down voluntarily.”

The DP noted Hyun’s case shows how desperate the government is to offer Cabinet posts to those who have the same political philosophy as President Lee, by not making enough of an effort to screen out “unethical” candidates. Lee Mi-kyung, the DP’s secretary-general, said, “The Lee administration should end its old practice of nominating its confidantes and replace Hyun with another person who can contribute to peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

The ruling GNP countered that its opposition rivals are using the allegations merely as a political tactic. During the confirmation hearing, GNP lawmakers said they plan to focus more on Hyun’s North Korea polices. However, with even some GNP lawmakers worrying that Hyun’s hard-line stance could undermine inter-Korean relations, it remains to be seen whether the party as a whole will be able to defend Hyun’s nomination.

The presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae also expressed its concerns about the growing controversy. Still, it expects that Hyun can bypass many of the allegations against him during the confirmation hearing, saying that it has no plans to replace him at this moment. “Even though people think there are too many problems with him, we still believe that most of them can be defended in the hearing,” a Cheong Wa Dae official said.

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