Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at the finance desk of The Korea Times, focuses primarily on economic policy and government agencies, mainly covering the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Budget and Planning, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service. She previously covered financial authorities, including the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, and earlier worked on the political, city and business desks, reporting on a wide range of issues.
Ex-science minister nominee raises ire
By Jun Ji-hye
Kim Jeong-hoon
By Jun Ji-hye
Kim Jeong-hoon, the former nominee to head Seoul’s science ministry, has sparked controversy here because of comments he made in a contribution to the Washington Post, alleging that his planned return to South Korea was thwarted by nationalism.
President Park Geun-hye nominated Kim as the minister of what is now the Ministry of Science ICT and Future Planning on Feb. 12, but he withdrew on March 4 as a result of mounting criticism about his dual citizenship and connections to the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Born in 1960 in Seoul, Kim moved to the U.S. in 1975 and eventually acquired American citizenship. He became a dual citizen after regaining his Korean citizenship three days before his nomination. Critics said it was inappropriate for him to lead a ministry dealing with the national interest because he had held American citizenship for almost 30 years.
Kim, the president of Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs and Corporate Strategy, said in his contribution, “I withdrew my candidacy when it became abundantly clear that the current political and business environment would impede me ― an outsider ― from carrying out the mission of this ministry.”
Describing the criticism as a “witch hunt,” he claimed, “Change-resistant forces in the political and bureaucratic circles and certain business spheres naturally raised objections to my candidacy, mostly on the basis of my nationality and presumed lack of allegiance.”
He stated some called him a spy and associated his wife with a brothel.
The former nominee said he loves the U.S. that made his American dream come true, but at the same time, he stressed he has always loved the land of his birth.
Kim argued that the most successful countries in the 21st century will be those that move beyond the old prejudices of nationalism.
However, his contribution attracted a torrent of critical comments from Netizens.
A Twitter user ID “hubr***” said, “His contribution is nauseating. A man with a dual citizenship cannot be the nation’s minister.”
Another Twitter with ID “willw***” said, “I feel terrible to hear an American swearing at my country. He doesn’t have rights to criticize our country as he hasn’t contributed to Korea at all.”
Bae Jong-chan, director of the department of social research and consultant at Research & Research, said Kim does not seem to sufficiently understand Korea’s political culture and how its verification process of ministerial nominees work, which resulted in him wrongly connecting his withdrawal to the nationalism issue.
“It is too much to associate his withdrawal with Korea’s nationalism. The then criticism against him was understandable as the ministry could be related to national security and state secrets,” Bae said. “Also, like any other candidate, he was embroiled with controversy in Korea over how he accumulated his extensive wealth. The criticism around him was not just because he was an American.”