'Seongnam Line' vs. 'Political Offensive': Clash Over Submission of Personnel Records

[Anchor]

On October 15, the ruling and opposition parties clashed during a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly's Climate and Labor Committee over the submission of personnel records for the heads of affiliated public agencies. While the opposition claimed that figures from the so-called "Gyeonggi Seongnam line," close to the president, had secured top agency positions in a series of "parachute appointments," the ruling party countered, calling it a political offensive.

Reporter Ha Jeongyeon reports.

[Reporter]

At the parliamentary audit of the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee on October 15.

Lawmakers from the People Power Party raised allegations of "parachute appointments," specifically naming Nam Gwang-woo, head of the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute, Ha Dong-geun, president of the Korea District Heating Corporation, and Jang Geon, chairman of the Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association.

They questioned whether these figures had assumed leadership roles at public institutions without proper vetting simply because they belonged to the so-called "Gyeonggi Seongnam line," and took issue with their refusal to submit personnel documents such as their cover letters.

[Kim Ki-hyun / People Power Party Lawmaker: "If they possess that level of expertise and an outstanding track record, they could just submit them proudly, yet they did not place first in any of the document screenings or interviews."]

Nam graduated from Chung-Ang University's College of Law, the same alma mater as President Lee Jae-myung, and previously served as the secretary general of the Seongnam Citizens' Coalition. The People Power Party claimed there must have been interference in the appointment process, pointing out that Nam was appointed despite ranking third in the document review and second in interviews.

Ha, a former head of the Seongnam Cultural Coalition, is known to have officiated at the wedding of Kim Hyun-ji, head of the First Attached Office at the presidential office. Controversy arose after he was appointed despite receiving the lowest scores in both the document review and interview stages.

Jang is an individual who formerly served as co-representative of the Seongnam Citizens' Coalition for Participatory Autonomy.

[Na Kyung-won / People Power Party Lawmaker: "It is suspected that Director Kim Hyun-ji and former Director Jeong Jin-sang, who are close aides to President Lee Jae-myung, intervened in the appointments..."]

At the audit, Nam stated that he had withheld the materials due to privacy concerns and other reasons.

[Nam Gwang-woo / Head of Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute: "There is some personal information included, and there are also matters related to privacy..."]

Targeting the People Power Party, the Democratic Party came to Nam's defense, demanding an end to what they termed a political offensive.

[Lee Gun-tae / Democratic Party Lawmaker: "(Nam Gwang-woo) said he would comply with whatever the National Assembly decides. Nitpicking his words and shifting all the responsibility onto the witness like this is..."]

The audit was temporarily suspended on October 15 before resuming, after which Nam belatedly submitted his cover letter and related materials.

(Camera: Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing: Yu Mi-ra)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.