Han Seong-sook Apologizes for Prime Minister’s Office Employee Posing as Ordinary Citizen: “I Regret What Happened to Han Dong-hoon and the Public”

[Financial News] Prime Minister Han Seong-sook apologized on the 11th after an employee of the Prime Minister’s Office asked questions at independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon’s press conference without disclosing the employee’s identity. “I express my regret to lawmaker Han and the public,” she said.
During a National Assembly interpellation session that day, People Power Party lawmaker Song Eon-seok asked whether she intended to apologize personally over the controversy. Han replied, “I express my regret to lawmaker Han and the public for causing unnecessary misunderstanding and controversy by answering that I was an ordinary member of the public.”
Han said, “As a public official, I believe it was inappropriate conduct to ask questions at an opposition lawmaker’s press conference without clearly disclosing my identity.”
She added, “I understand that an explanation is being given at the Office of the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, and that a vice minister has gone to Han Dong-hoon’s office to apologize.”
When Song reiterated that it would be appropriate to apologize to the public, Han bowed her head again and said, “I deeply regret this and apologize to the public.”
At Han Dong-hoon’s National Assembly press conference the previous day, a section chief from the Prime Minister’s Office caused controversy by asking questions without disclosing the official’s identity. The section chief asked about an issue involving Han Dong-hoon’s criticism of Prime Minister Han Seong-sook while displaying a Telegram chat room titled “Prime Minister + Key Senior Officials” on a mobile phone. When Han Dong-hoon asked about the official’s identity, the section chief replied, “I’m an ordinary member of the public.”
After it emerged that the section chief was an employee of the Prime Minister’s Office, Han Dong-hoon protested, asking, “Is the Prime Minister’s Office conducting surveillance on an opposition lawmaker?”
During a National Assembly interpellation session the previous day, Han Seong-sook said, “If there was anything inappropriate, I will deal with it strictly,” while drawing a line under the surveillance allegation by calling it “an overstatement.”
The Prime Minister’s Office also explained that the employee had asked the question spontaneously while passing through the press conference and that there had been no surveillance or instruction from the prime minister. However, it issued the employee a stern warning, saying that asking questions without disclosing the employee’s identity was inappropriate conduct.

[email protected] Kim Kyung-min Reporter