Claiming to Be a "Private Citizen"... Asking Questions While Posing as a Reporter Sparks "Surveillance" Accusations

[Anchor]

An official belonging to the Prime Minister's Office was revealed to have lied to independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon about being a private citizen before asking him a question, leading to the exposure of their identity. When Lawmaker Han demanded to know if the Prime Minister's Office was conducting surveillance on an opposition lawmaker, the Prime Minister's Office explained that the official had simply asked a passing question.

This report is by Go Jeong-hyeon.

[Reporter]

This afternoon (the 10th) in front of the main National Assembly chamber where the interpellation session was underway.

This question emerged while independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, who has continuously raised suspicions regarding Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won, was taking questions from reporters.

[Person A - Han Dong-hoon / Independent Lawmaker: (You posted on Facebook today that you are ordering an investigation to the Prime Minister, what was the intent behind posting that it is an investigation directive?) I will order a strict investigation and verification. (You said verification, verification.) I said I would order it. (Yes, verification...) Which reporter are you? Which outlet are you from? (I am a private citizen.)]

During yesterday's interpellation session, Prime Minister Han Sung-sook stated that she had ordered the verification of how investigative materials were leaked regarding the suspicions surrounding nominee Kim, and when Lawmaker Han criticized that as an "investigation directive," the person who asked the question claimed to be a "private citizen." However, upon checking by Lawmaker Han's side, it turned out to be a section chief belonging to the Prime Minister's Office.

Lawmaker Han immediately launched an offensive against Prime Minister Han during the interpellation session, pointing out that the section chief in question had given a heads-up about the question in a Telegram chatroom where Prime Minister Han was also present.

[Han Dong-hoon / Independent Lawmaker: Section Chief ○○○ of the Planning and General Affairs Division at the Prime Minister's Office, right? Is the Prime Minister's Office conducting surveillance on an opposition lawmaker?]

Prime Minister Han admitted that the staff member had asked a question, but denied that it constituted surveillance.

[Han Sung-sook / Prime Minister: (The official in question) seems to have answered along the lines of "I am just a private citizen." If asking a question in a public place while passing by is considered surveillance, wouldn't all of us be facing surveillance at every moment?]

An official from the Prime Minister's Office explained, "A lot of people gathered in a public place, so the public official simply went over and asked a question out of curiosity; it was not done with any malicious intent."

(Camera: Kim Yong-woo, Video Editing: Jeong Seong-hun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.