National audit probes appointment; Ha denies prior contact with presidential aide
Ha Dong-geun, president of Korea District Heating, said Monday that officiating the wedding of Kim Hyun-ji, first deputy chief of staff at Cheong Wa Dae, did not create any "special relationship" between them.
Responding to questions from People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won at the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee national audit, Ha said officiating weddings was not particularly significant for him. "It's not that special — I've officiated about 40 weddings over the course of my activities, and that was just one of them," he said, adding that the ceremony had not given rise to any special relationship.
Ha was active in environmental movements in the Seongnam area when President Lee Jae Myung was practicing law there, and he officiated Kim's wedding. Ha ranked last — eighth out of eight candidates — in the document screening and fifth out of five in the interview stage for the Korea District Heating presidency, a post that carries an annual salary of 243 million won ($181,000), yet was still selected for the role.
Na raised Ha's role as officiant at Kim's wedding and asked whether he had communicated with Kim during the application process. She pressed further, noting his low rankings across both screening stages, and asked directly, "Did Chief Kim tell you to apply?"
Ha said he "thought the criteria used in the initial tests and the criteria used for the final selection could be somewhat different."
When asked whether he had coordinated with Kim in advance, Ha flatly denied it.
A self-introduction letter Ha submitted — obtained by Na's office — showed that most of its content described his past civic activism in the Seongnam area. Ha wrote that he was involved in founding the Seongnam YMCA in the 1980s, describing it as "a hub of local activism where legal organizing was possible, if limited, at a time when extralegal movements were thriving."
Of the 12 paragraphs in the three-page letter — excluding sections redacted for personal information — seven dealt with his local activism.
By contrast, only one paragraph addressed his professional qualifications as a candidate for the Korea District Heating presidency. In it, he wrote that Korea District Heating is "the country's leading collective energy institution" and that he wished "to contribute to Korea District Heating and the South Korean government's policy development through my experience and expertise."
oskymoon@heraldcorp.com
