Parties set to clash over unification minister nominee's hearing

Unification Minister Nominee Kim Yeon-chul answers questions at the Office of Inter-Korean Dialogue in Seoul, May 11. / Korea Times file

By Park Ji-won

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and opposition parties are set to clash at this week's confirmation hearing over unification minister nominee Kim Yeon-chul as the opposition is expected to ask the nominee to voluntarily step down given his repeated mixed stance on North Korea policy.

The DPK is expected to defend Kim's nomination as the party officials view him as an “asset” to lead an early resumption of working-level discussions with North Korea over the latter's nuclear disarmament amid the continued impasse between the two Koreas since the failure of the Hanoi summit between the North and the U.S.

But the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) is expected to question the nominee's silence over two previous cases of hostility by the North which included the killing of a South Korean tourist.

In a radio interview with a local broadcaster YTN, DPK ppokesman Rep. Kang Byung-won said Kim is qualified and the “right person” given his ample experience of handling North Korea policies. “The unification ministry is asked to play a creative role in backing President Moon Jae-in's efforts to revive the stalled talks aimed at dismantling the North's nuclear program,” Kang said.

The unification minister-nominee has long been the strongest backer of dialogue with rather than pressure on Pyongyang to improve inter-Korean relations in sync with President Moon's “engagement-centric” North Korea approach. Kim is also vocal on the easing of economic sanctions on North Korea, helping the North to engage in talks for the regime's denuclearization.

But LKP Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn slammed Kim's nomination by insisting that Cheong Wa Dae's choice of Kim for the post was “a shocking move.”

“The nominee Kim earlier claimed that the death of a South Korean national at Mount Keumgang in North Korea was a rite of passage and denied the deadly South Korean warship sinking by North Korea's attack,” the LKP leader commented, adding the nominee Kim has “serious ethical problems.”

Cheong Wa Dae named seven ministerial nominees, last week. All of them are required for a National Assembly confirmation hearing, which runs from March 25 to March 27.

The nominations are include Chin Young for the Ministry of Interior and Safety, Park Young-sun for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Park Yang-woo for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Cho Dong-ho for the Ministry of Science and ICT, Choi Jeong-ho for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Moon Seong-hyeok for the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

Officials said the opposition parties are also set to take the Kim's earlier remarks against leading politicians. In December, 2016, he described former President Park Geun-hye, as a person with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and autism.

In March, 2015, the nominee Kim criticized Moon, then the leader of the main opposition party after posting a picture of Moon dressed in a military uniform when he visited a battalion on Ganghwa Island to mark the fifth anniversary of the Cheonan, a South Korean Navy vessel sunk by a North Korean torpedo. He said “Politicians should be more serious. They are putting on a show wearing military clothes.”

Meanwhile, the housing minister-nominee Choi is widely seen as another target because of allegations over his direct involvement to purchase housing at below-market prices, helping him earn huge extra income.