Assembly committee adopts hearing report for SME minister nominee; PPP flags 'unfit' concerns

The National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee held a plenary session Tuesday and adopted, with agreement from both ruling and opposition parties, a confirmation hearing report on Lee So-young, the nominee for minister of SMEs and Startups. The adoption came 19 days after the hearing request was submitted to the National Assembly on Sept. 3.

However, the People Power Party said in its overall assessment that concerns had been raised about Lee's personal conduct and ethics — including questions over consulting fee payments, unpaid gift taxes, and real estate holdings and residency — as well as a relative lack of direct experience and expertise in small and medium-sized enterprise and small business policy, flagging the possibility she was "unfit" for the post.

The party also said there were assessments that Lee "had been at the forefront of improving unreasonable regulations that hinder the challenges of innovative companies, and would be able to push forward key policy tasks in an innovative manner based on her experience carrying out various legislative activities for sustainable growth and industrial transition."

The party said it had determined that Lee "possesses the basic qualities and policy capabilities necessary to serve as minister of SMEs and Startups, on the premise that she humbly accepts the concerns raised about her personal conduct, ethics and expertise, and keeps them in mind while carrying out her duties," citing this as the reason for adopting the report.

The committee also voted at Tuesday's meeting to approve a list of witnesses and references for the national audit running from Oct. 6 to Oct. 23, comprising 211 institutional witnesses, four general witnesses and one reference.

For the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's national audit on Oct. 6, the committee approved Choi Seung-ho, chairman of the Samsung Electronics branch of the Samsung Group inter-company labor union, as a witness on the issue of Samsung Electronics performance bonuses, and Lee Ki-seung, chairman of BS Group, as a witness on the promotion of corporate cities.