Park Jae-hyuk is a seasoned journalist who has provided comprehensive coverage of South Korea's corporate dynamics, economic policies, industry challenges and the global positioning of Korean companies. Based on the articles he has written since joining The Korea Times in 2016, his investigative approach has helped readers understand corporate governance, economic trends and business strategies shaping South Korea’s economy.
Naver founder to be summoned to National Assembly audit
Naver founder Lee Hae-jin testifies at a National Assembly audit in this October 2018 file photo. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun
By Park Jae-hyuk
Lawmakers decide not to grill banking group chiefs
By Park Jae-hyuk
Lee Hae-jin, Naver's founder who currently serves as its global investment officer (GIO), is set to be summoned as a witness for a National Assembly audit next Wednesday on the Financial Services Commission (FSC), sources knowledgeable with the matter said, Wednesday.
They said ruling and opposition party lawmakers at the National Assembly's national policy committee are close to agreement on summoning Lee.
He will be grilled about the company's efforts to protect financial consumers, amid intensifying government regulations on financial platform operators, such as the implementation of revisions to the Financial Consumer Protection Act. Financial services platform operators like Naver Financial and Kakao Pay are now required to stop comparing financial products or making recommendations until they receive a license to conduct such services.
The Naver founder has managed so far to avoid being summoned for the forthcoming National Assembly audit.
The National Policy Committee's lawmakers did not put his name on the list of witnesses for the audit of the Fair Trade Commission next Tuesday, in contrast to their decision to summon the heads of other online platform operators ― Kakao Chairman Kim Beom-su, Coupang CEO Kang Han-seung and Yanolja CEO Bae Bo-chan.
The Science, ICT, Broadcasting & Communications Committee also decided not to pick Lee as a witness, as lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) serving on the committee were wary of taking flak from the public for summoning entrepreneurs for the audit. The Environment and Labor Committee will summon Naver CEO Han Seong-sook instead, to ask her about the company's follow-up measures regarding the suicide of its employee in May which has been blamed on alleged workplace bullying.
If Lee refuses to appear before the National Assembly as a witness by traveling overseas, Han would be an alternative to be summoned for the National Policy Committee's comprehensive audit on Oct. 21.
The CEOs of the nation's four largest financial holding companies ― KB, Shinhan, Hana and Woori financial groups ― are unlikely to be asked to testify again this year, although Rep. Kang Min-kuk of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) once tried to summon Woori Chairman Son Tae-seung over the derivative-linked funds fiasco that led to massive losses for Woori Bank customers who invested in the funds without being appropriately warned of their riskiness.
Lawmakers on the National Policy Committee are considering summoning working-level employees to avoid the National Assembly audit being viewed as an annual event for politicians to humiliate business leaders.
National Policy Committee Chairman Yun Jae-ok, center, talks with the committee's executive secretaries ― Rep. Kim Byung-wook of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, left, and Rep. Kim Hee-gon of the main opposition People Power Party ― during a meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
The lawmakers were supposed to finalize a list of financial sector witnesses by Wednesday, but they failed to agree on summoning around 40 witnesses involved in a controversial land development project in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
The project has been embroiled in controversy, since Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, the frontrunner among DPK presidential hopefuls, has been accused of offering preferential treatment while serving as mayor of Seongnam to Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, which was one of the investors in a special purpose entity named Seongnam's Yard Corp for a planned development project.
Financial firms investing in the entity included Hana Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Tongyang Life Insurance, SK Securities and Hana Trust.