Assembly endorses unification minister nominee

By Choi Ha-young

Cho Myoung-gyon

The National Assembly endorsed Cho Myoung-gyon, the candidate for President Moon Jae-in’s unification minister Thursday.

The Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee rapidly adopted a joint report after its confirmation hearing on his strategy to break the inter-Korean deadlock.

Cho said he will push for the resumption of operations at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC), if inter-Korean tension eases.

“The GIC is a symbol of inter-Korean peace and rapprochement. It should definitely be resumed,” said Cho, who helped create the complex in the early 2000s under then President Roh Moo-hyun.

However, he said North Korea should first stop provocations.

“If the North continues its provocations, the GIC won’t be resumed. I’m not saying that the North should give up its nuclear program, but it should first show sincerity in moving toward denuclearization,” he said.

Cho emphasized the favorable effect of the GIC, a result of the inter-Korean summit of 2000. Last year, former President Park Geun-hye withdrew South Korean businesspeople from the complex to protest a nuclear test.

“The complex functioned as a buffer zone between the two Koreas, both boasting about it to the international community,” he said.

The nominee touted the inter-Korean relationship initiative to make a breakthrough in the nuclear problem. “So far, inter-Korean relations have been downplayed. Efforts to go along with international society are important, but it should run parallel with the relationship between the Koreas,” he said.

Cho, who was involved in a landmark summit between President Roh and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2007, said he will seek inter-Korean talks, if the North steps forward toward a nuclear freeze.

Conservative lawmakers incessantly asked the nominee questions about possible dissonance with the United States and international sanctions. They told Cho that a prerequisite should be Pyongyang’s “complete abandonment of its nuclear and missile programs,” but he refused to agree.

“When North Korean nuclear issues start to be resolved, sanctions will be gradually eased which will facilitate the resumption of the GIC and the Mount Geumgang tourism project,” he said.

Cho also showed a favorable stance to reopening inter-Korean dialogue channels through special envoys and employing “track 1.5 diplomacy” with the North. He also echoed the Assembly’s resolution to organize a family reunion for those separated since the 1950-53 Korean War, Aug. 15.

During the administrations of the two conservative presidents, the Ministry of Unification was dubbed the “Ministry of anti-Unification” for its weak role.

Asked about the strong points of the ministry compared to the Ministry of National Defense and the National Intelligence Service specializing in military affairs and espionage, respectively, he said: “The unification ministry is the sole organization that looks at how to achieve peaceful unification 24 hours a day.”

Education minister nominee grilled

A separate parliamentary hearing was also held for Kim Sang-gon, the nominee for education minister.

Opposition lawmakers blasted him for the lack of submitted materials. The largest opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) lawmakers attached a poster in protest of Kim’s ethical lapses.

Rep. Lee Eun-jae of the LKP claimed that 15 out of 49 academic papers written by the progressive scholar were plagiarized, and 65 pages out of 246 pages of his doctorate thesis were also plagiarized. Academic plagiarism is one of the five corruptive activities which Moon pledged to exclude when appointing high-ranking officials.

The former professor denied the allegation citing the Seoul National University anti-plagiarism center. “According to the practices in 1992, it had some minor flaws but it wasn’t plagiarism,” he said.

The former school superintendent of Gyeonggi Province was also cornered over alleged political bias. In a declaration made in 2005, he called for driving out the U.S. Forces in Korea and scrapping the ROK-U.S. alliance.

“At that time as a professor teaching labor union members, I didn’t review the terms carefully,” Kim said. LKP lawmaker Lee Jang-woo labeled him as a “socialist.” In response, Rep. Park Kyung-mee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea filed a vigorous protest labeling the remark as “hate speech.”

Kim, a symbol of education reform, formulated President Moon’s education pledges. In the hearing, he emphasized equality and democracy in the public education system. “I vow to resolve the polarization and privileges in education,” he said.