The confirmation hearing for Han Seong-suk (58), the nominee for Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, will be held at the National Assembly on the 15th. The nominee's previous opposition to the so-called 'Online Platform Fairness Act' is expected to be a major point of contention.
On that day, the Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee of the National Assembly will conduct the confirmation hearing for the nominee. The opposition party, the People Power Party, is expected to question the nominee regarding the Online Platform Fairness Act and alleged suspicions of improper gifts.
The Online Platform Fairness Act is a bill aimed at preventing the abuse of market dominance by large platforms such as Naver and Kakao and protecting small business owners. President Lee Jae-myung campaigned on this issue during the presidential election.
Han Seong-suk, the former representative of Naver, opposed the Online Platform Fairness Act in the past, citing 'reverse discrimination' as a reason. However, as the nominee for Minister of SMEs and Startups, whose priority is to protect small and medium-sized enterprises, her position is bound to change. During the preparation process for the hearing, the nominee responded to related questions indicating that 'the situation has changed.'
The workplace harassment incident that led to the nominee's resignation from Naver in 2021 is also expected to be mentioned. The executive identified as the perpetrator in that incident has recently returned to Naver's management, causing controversy. The committee has demanded the appearance of Choi In-hyuk, head of Naver's institutional sector and Oh Se-yoon, president of the Naver branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), but Choi submitted a letter explaining his absence.
The nominee apologized and promised to prevent a recurrence of the workplace harassment incident during a government audit by the Environment and Labor Committee. She subsequently resigned from her position in March 2022.
A dispute regarding 'improper gifts' among family members is also expected. Earlier, the opposition raised allegations that the nominee improperly gifted an apartment to her mother. The nominee resided with her mother in an apartment located in Jamsil-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, and moved to her current residence in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, in March 2022. The opposition party claims that the nominee registered her mother as the head of the household for the Jamsil apartment, believing it to be an improper gift.
The nominee stated, 'Currently, my mother is over 80 years old and has no income,' adding, 'I was not aware that under the circumstances of my moving, my mother and I needed to establish a rent relationship, and I was not sensitive to that.'
Even if the nominee does not pass the National Assembly confirmation hearing, the President can proceed with the appointment according to the Confirmation Hearing Act. Oh Youngju, the current Minister, also had the confirmation report fail to pass, but former President Yoon Suk-yeol approved the appointment.