Culture minister nominee grilled over alleged property speculation
Cho Yoon-sun, the nominee for the minister of culture, sports and tourism, drinks water during her confirmation hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun
Culture minister nominee hearing conducted by opposition lawmakers
By Jun Ji-hye
Cho Yoon-sun, a nominee for minister of culture, sports and tourism, was grilled over allegations about real estate speculation and excessive consumption during a confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
The hearing by the National Assembly’s Education, Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee took place after President Park Geun-hye nominated Cho for culture minister on Aug. 16.
The morning session of the hearing was crippled due to wrangling between rival lawmakers over a supplementary budget. Lawmakers from the ruling Saenuri Party refused to participate in the afternoon session, which was held with only lawmakers from the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) and the minor opposition People’s Party attending.
Rep. Yoo Eun-hae of the MPK raised an allegation that Cho made 2.7 billion won ($2.4 million) through real estate speculation by selling an apartment in Banpo, southern Seoul, in 2006 and another in the same district in 2015.
Cho acknowledged that she did not live in the apartment she bought in 2000 and sold in 2006, but said that the transaction was not aimed at real estate speculation. Regarding an apartment that she bought in 1998 and sold in 2015, she said she actually lived there between 1998 and 2007.
“I will try harder to make up for what I have lacked,” she said.
Another major controversy facing Cho was her alleged extravagant lifestyle, as she has spent about 500 million won ($448,000) a year. Rep. Kim Byung-wook from the MPK said he estimated Cho’s annual consumption after reviewing her property details and tax payments.
“Cho and her husband earned about 2.3 billion won from 2013 to 2015, but their report of property during the time period showed that their property increased by only 510 million won,” Kim said. “This means that they spent about 500 million won a year.”
The lawmaker noted that the estimate of their annual expenses is against common sense.
In response, Cho said the cost of operating an office run by her lawyer husband was included in the couple’s expenditures, not in the office’s expenditures.
“For example, food expenses for the staff of the office were included in our household expenses as if we spent that money,” she said. “Our expenditures also included money sent to my children studying overseas. That was not taken into consideration, either.”
Cho’s alleged excessive consumption also came into the spotlight during a 2013 hearing when she was a nominee to be the gender equality minister. At that time, she said, “My husband and I are generous when meeting friends and colleagues. So we were unable to manage our income well.”
But the public repulsion seems to have not been eased after it was known that the couple has spent only 1.1 percent of their income in donations for the past three years.
Other lawmakers pointed out that Cho’s nomination to be the culture minister was a typical case of President Park’s excessive reliance on members of her inner circle.
If confirmed, the culture minister will be Cho’s third position in the Park administration _ she served as the gender equality minister from March 2013 to June 2014 and the senior presidential secretary for political affairs from June 2014 to May 2015.
During her introductory speech, Cho said if she becomes the minister, she will make an effort to combine cultural business with other industries to create more jobs and achieve economic growth.
“Culture and art as well as sports and tourism should support the lives of the people,” she said. “If I become the minister, I will create an atmosphere that allows the people to enjoy the culture everywhere and establish high-quality infrastructure and seek growth in the tourism industry,” she said.