Deputy Prime Minister Choo Kyung-ho, who is also a re-elected member of the National Assembly, has been refusing to report the property of his two daughters since 2018 and 2019.
The reason was that the daughters were making a living independently.
In order to refuse property notification on the grounds of a child's independent living, he or she must meet the income criteria and form a separate household on the resident registration card for at least one year.
I visited an apartment in Dogok-dong, Seoul, where her eldest daughter is the head of the household.
When I looked around the parking lot late at night, I saw Choo's car with the Presidential Transition Committee and National Assembly passes.
The owner of the apartment is a married couple, but according to the resident registration certificate, it is stated that only the eldest daughter of the candidate and the second daughter live.
Dalseong-gun, Daegu, the constituency, is the address of the couple of candidates, Sang-Sang and Choo.
However, if you look at the address of car insurance submitted to the National Assembly and mail data, all of the recipients are listed in Dogok-dong's house.
In the end, it is presumed that the whole family lives together in a house in Seoul with only the head of the household separated.
Candidate Choo said there was no problem because the Public Officials Ethics Committee was given permission to refuse to disclose the property of the two daughters.
However, the National Assembly Secretariat gave an authoritative interpretation that it would be possible to cancel the refusal of notification if it was confirmed that the candidate was living with the candidate without actually forming an independent household.
[Kim Seong-dal, Policy Director, Citizens’ Alliance for Economic Justice: It can only be seen that only the generations are formally separated, but in reality they receive various supports from their parents, or that this is an expedient abuse of this system.
] He added that he would explain the circumstances and detailed reasons at the hearing.
(Video coverage: Cho Chun-dong, editing: Kim Jong-mi, source: Kim Du-gwan, Democratic Party member's office, production: D Content Planning Department)