Park Jin-young responds to criticism over W2m monthly expenses: 'Who would take this job?'

Singer Park Jin-young has responded to criticism that he received about 2 million won ($1,470) per month in job-performance expenses while serving as co-chair of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange.

Park appeared on SBS Radio's "Kim Tae-hyun's Politics Show" on Tuesday, saying he "did not know" he was receiving the expenses and called the situation "deeply regrettable."

Park had previously stated on an entertainment program that he was working without pay in his role as co-chair of the presidential committee — a minister-level position. The broadcast displayed an on-screen caption reading "salary and vehicle both declined."

People Power Party lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin, however, disclosed budget execution documents obtained from the committee showing that Park had been paid about 2 million won per month in job-performance expenses since November last year. The total paid to date has exceeded 20 million won. Park was also separately provided with a business expense card, overseas travel allowances for official trips, and support staff, according to reports. Bae said the monthly job-performance expense "is in effect a salary, as it is public service compensation," and called out Park's claim of working without pay.

On Tuesday's radio program, Park acknowledged that Bae's criticism was "a fair point," saying he had only learned of the payments after the fact.

He said that upon finding out, his first instinct was to return the money — "I could just say, 'I said I'd do this for free, so I won't take it'" — adding that he was more inclined to do exactly that.

"If I take this 2 million won and people question my sincerity, it becomes hard to do the work," he said. "Rather than let it disrupt the momentum, and since I already said I'd work for free, it would be better not to take this either, to stay consistent with that position."

He then raised what he called a more important point. "Looking at global trends, public-private collaboration like what the Popular Culture Exchange Committee does will need to grow across all sectors — semiconductors, defense and beyond," he said. "But having done this work, I can see the system for public-private cooperation simply isn't in place."

He gave a trip to the United States as an example, describing the difficulty of handling both official government business and private company business on the same trip. Combining the two, he said, invites criticism that public funds were used to conduct company work in New York. His company had advised him to complete all government duties first, return to Korea, and then travel again for company business. Park did not follow that advice and instead handled both on the same trip. Last month, the National Assembly raised concerns about the need to clearly separate the two types of work.

"If it has to be done this way, nobody will take on this kind of work — who would?" Park said. "I did it knowingly, to set a precedent for how public-private collaboration should work. This kind of thing needs to keep happening."

Park framed the job-performance expenses in the same light. "If I don't accept the business expenses, the next person will be asked why they're taking them when Park Jin-young didn't," he said. "That would make it harder for the next person to do the job."

Park is scheduled to appear as an institutional witness at the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee national audit on Wednesday. "The hardest part of doing this work is having my sincerity questioned," he said. "The only thing I want to convey to all the lawmakers is that I am genuinely committed to the Popular Culture Exchange Committee and that serving the public interest is my true purpose."