Parliamentary Industry Committee Adopts Confirmation Report for SMEs Minister Nominee Lee So-young, Opposition Cites 'Unfit' Concerns

The National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee convened a plenary meeting today (September 22) and adopted the personnel confirmation hearing report for Lee So-young, the nominee for Minister of SMEs and Startups, by bipartisan agreement.

This comes 19 days after the confirmation hearing request for nominee Lee was formally submitted to the National Assembly.

In its comprehensive evaluation, the committee, chaired by the opposition People Power Party, noted concerns over her being "unfit," pointing out that "questions were raised regarding the nominee's personal background and ethics, including service fee payments, unpaid gift taxes, and real estate ownership and residency, as well as concerns over a relative lack of direct experience and expertise in policies concerning small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners."

However, the committee added, "There was also an assessment that, based on her experience taking the lead in reforming unreasonable regulations that hinder innovative companies and conducting diverse parliamentary activities for sustainable growth and industrial transition, she will be able to drive key policy tasks forward innovatively."

Explaining the reasoning behind adopting the report, the committee stated, "On the premise that she humbly accepts and keeps in mind the concerns regarding her personal ethics and expertise while carrying out her duties, she was deemed to possess the fundamental qualifications and policy competence required to serve as Minister of SMEs and Startups."

At the meeting today, the committee also approved a list of 211 institutional witnesses, four general witnesses, and one reference witness to be summoned for the parliamentary audit scheduled from October 6 to 23.

For the audit of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on October 6, Choi Seung-ho, head of the Samsung Electronics branch of the Samsung Group Trans-Enterprise Labor Union, was selected as a witness regarding Samsung Electronics' performance-based bonuses, while Lee Ki-seung, chairman of BS Group, was summoned regarding the promotion of enterprise cities.

For the audit of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups on October 7, the committee decided to summon Michael ByungJu Kim, chairman of MBK Partners, to question him on the Homeplus crisis and damages suffered by store tenants, as well as Jung Woo-shin, head of the private business cooperation division at the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), regarding LH's private sector participation projects.

The witness summons requested by the People Power Party regarding the announcement of the Honam semiconductor cluster investment plan—which targeted Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, former Senior Presidential Secretary for Policy Kim Yong-beom, and Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik—failed to pass due to objections from the Democratic Party.

Regarding the matter of summoning Chairmen Lee and Chey as witnesses, Committee Chairman Kim Sung-won remarked, "This is not final," adding, "I will ensure that the ranking members of both ruling and opposition parties continue discussions regarding the witness selection."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.