Prime Minister candidate Han Deok-soo actively clarified the suspicions raised about him during the personnel hearing.
In particular, regarding the allegations of courtesy and Lone Star raised over Kim & Chang's work, he even fought with the hearing members and responded head-on.
However, when the issue of high torture fees came up, he lowered his body to any accusations related to public sentiment, such as saying "I'm sorry".
One candidate received a sharp Q&A with members of the Democratic Party and Justice Party about various allegations raised after being nominated as a candidate for prime minister at a personnel hearing held at the National Assembly today (2nd).
These members' inquiries focused mainly on one candidate's work at Kim & Chang, and the majority pointed out that the history of going back and forth between public office and Kim & Chang as well as public service was a 'revolving door greeting'.
One candidate countered this by saying, "I didn't think of it as public courtesy because I never called or asked for a single case from a junior public official."
In the past, in the course of an international investment dispute between the Korean government and Lone Star, there was a war of words in the process of answering the question of Lee Hae-sik, a member of the Democratic Party, who said that Korea was too chauvinistic.
One candidate intervened in the middle of this committee member's remarks that were 'an inappropriate remark as a public official and an out-of-balance answer,' and actively countered, saying, "You really misunderstood that."
One candidate, however, declined to comment on whether it was appropriate to receive high remuneration while working for Kim & Chang.
When asked by Justice Party member Bae Jin-gyo, who said, 'There are criticisms that the revolving door personnel between the private and public offices were inappropriate', he replied, "If there is a way to help for the country, we should help." I did.
One candidate also seemed to be conscious of the fact that he had a conflict with the Special Personnel Hearing Committee over the request for data submission, and even approached and greeted the committee members before the hearing began.
(Photo = National Assembly Photo Reporters, Yonhap News)