Lawmaker in hot seat over son's alleged sex buying attempt

By Kim Rahn

Rep. Chang Je-won of the minor conservative Bareun Party is trouble due to his son’s alleged sex buying attempt and other "misdeeds."

On Friday, cable music channel Mnet aired the first episode of its new audition program “High School Rapper,” on which Chang’s son, Yong-joon, 18, gained attention due to a skillful rap performance. It was also made public that he was the lawmaker’s son.

But hours later, his tweets were made public in which the junior Chang proposed to pay money to another minor for sex. It was also alleged that he smoked and drank, with a photo showing him holding a glass of soju.

Criticism rose toward the boy as well as toward the father, who, during the National Assembly hearings into the corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her friend Choi Soon-sil, had strongly denounced alleged favors to Choi’s daughter Chung Yoo-ra and former senior presidential secretary Woo Byung-woo’s son.

The lawmaker had risen to fame with sharp questions toward witnesses involved in the scandal at the Assembly hearings late last year.

On Saturday, the lawmaker made a public apology for causing the stir on Facebook, saying, as a father, he would guide his son on a better path.

But the controversy kept growing, and the senior Chang resigned from the positions of party spokesman and Busan committee chairman, Sunday.

“I inflicted huge damage to the party not long after it was set up,” he said on Facebook. “I will reflect on my failure to manage my family properly. I’ll take some time off so I can repent to people who were hurt not only by my son’s behavior but also by me. I beg your forgiveness.”

The lawmaker also closed down his social networking channels.

The junior Chang also disclosed his hand-written apology via Mnet, saying he would drop out of the program.

“I apologize to my friends and parents, whom I hurt through immature remarks and behavior,” he said. “Passing through puberty, I did bad things through bad ways. I am so ashamed of myself.”

But he said he never bought sex although he exchanged such messages with others via Twitter out of curiosity.

Producers of the program said they would check other contestants’ backgrounds to prevent such rows from recurring.