Han says controversies surrounding first lady must be resolved in November

Ruling party chair urges to revive independent inspector to probe presidential family

People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon speaks during a press briefing. Yonhap

Ruling People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon on Wednesday said that the controversies surrounding first lady Kim Keon Hee must be resolved by the end of next month, as he stressed the need to regain public trust in the conservative bloc.

Han’s remarks made at a press conference marking his first 100 days in office came as a widening rift is observed within the ruling party over how to deal with multiple allegations regarding the president's wife, including her alleged involvement in a stock manipulation scandal.

“(We) must be able to boldly and preemptively come up with and carry out solutions on problems that have recently surfaced as well as points that have prompted public concerns,” Han said at the National Assembly in the morning.

“To build the momentum of reform (within the party and the overall conservative bloc) there are things that must be brought an end to before the end of November,” he added.

Han later admitted that the problems he referred to were “worries and concerns related to first lady Kim Keon Hee."

The ruling party leader stressed that it would be difficult for the government and the ruling party to pursue the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s major reform agenda focused on four key areas -- national pension, health care, education and labor -- without resolving the issues surrounding the first lady.

“(The reform agenda) involving the four key areas of national pension, health care, education and labor is a task that our party and the Cabinet must jointly pursue together and cannot be abandoned. (But) the pursuit of the task would be difficult without resolving the concerns and disappointment of the people,” he said.

He stressed that the ruling party is currently facing a crisis and that there would not be a "next time" for the conservative bloc if they cannot provide a sufficient solution to the existing problems.

Han reiterated the revival of the independent inspector general position, which is tasked with investigating corruption accusations made against the president's family but has remained vacant since 2016, as a key solution to the controversies surrounding the first lady.

The independent inspector general position was established in 2014 under then-President Park Geun-hye, but has been left vacant since 2016. Critics suspect that Lee Suk-soo, who was the first independent inspector general, was pressured to step down by the presidential office after he probed Park and her aides.

"The independent inspector general is an institution that oversees power and prevents problems stemming from power beforehand. We need (someone) to take on that role right now," Han said.

But he added he believes that the presidential office has "taken a path of change" and is making its own efforts to find a solution that could meet the public eye.

On the other side of the political sphere, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea seeks to push for the passage of a bill mandating a special counsel probe into allegations that the first lady violated the country’s anti-graft law as well as the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, at a National Assembly plenary session next month. The party previously passed two similar bills, but both were vetoed by Yoon.

The latest version of the bill expands the scope of the proposed special counsel investigation to include accusations that the first lady requested Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed political broker, to conduct public opinion surveys that would favor her husband ahead of the 2022 presidential election.

The first lady's alleged interference in the ruling party's candidate nomination process for this year's April 10 general election and accusations that she inappropriately meddled in state affairs through her aides in the presidential office have been added to the list of allegations.

Her alleged involvement in a stock manipulation scheme and alleged acceptance of a luxury bag from a Korean American pastor, which were the key suspicions in the first two versions of the bill, have remained on the list as well.

caption: People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon speaks during a press briefing. Yonhap

By Jung Min-kyung(mkjung@heraldcorp.com)