Baemin and Google Korea heads selected as witnesses for National Assembly committee

[Financial News] Bom Kim, CEO of Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baemin, and Yoon Koo, president of Google Korea, among others, were selected as witnesses for the National Assembly Planning and Finance Committee's state audit.
On the 28th, the Planning and Finance Committee held a plenary meeting and, with agreement from both parties, approved a request for six regular witnesses, including CEO Kim, and four reference witnesses to attend the state audit.
The committee plans to examine Kim on the structure of fund transfers to the overseas parent company and the appropriateness of domestic taxation and withholding.
The committee also plans to call President Yoon Koo for questioning over allegations of corporate tax avoidance and tax evasion.
Kim Jong-chul, CEO of Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), Kim Jong-hwa, CEO of SK Energy, and Koo Kyo-woon, chairman of Daebang Group, were also added to the witness list.
Kim Jong-chul is expected to face questions about the sale of Korea Eximbank's stake in KAI and its privatization. Kim Jong-hwa is expected to be questioned about the scale of losses in the oil-refining industry following the implementation of a maximum petroleum-price system.
Koo was selected as a witness to examine whether the tax burden on development profits generated through the resale of public housing land by an affiliate and housing development was appropriate.
However, Kim Yong-beom, former head of policy at the presidential office, and Yeo Han-koo, former head of the Office of Trade Negotiations, who were nominated as witnesses by the People Power Party, were not selected this time due to opposition from the Democratic Party of Korea.
Bae Jun-young, the People Power Party's committee secretary, said, "Former Director Kim needs to attend so that we can determine what discussions led to the creation of this tax reform plan and what consultations and judgments took place between the presidential office and the government. The same applies to single-stock leveraged ETFs."
Regarding Yeo, Bae argued, "He was a key working-level official who participated in the tariff negotiations between South Korea and the United States. It is necessary to determine what discussions took place with the U.S. side, among other things."
Oh Gi-hyoung, the Democratic Party of Korea's committee secretary, responded, "The Democratic Party of Korea also requested Choi Sang-mok, former deputy prime minister, and Choo Kyung-ho, mayor of Daegu Metropolitan City, as witnesses, but they were not selected because the opposition objected. It is inappropriate to call to the Planning and Finance Committee people affiliated with other standing committees or those who were public officials at institutions under the jurisdiction of other standing committees."
Meanwhile, the ruling and opposition parties agreed to continue a second round of consultations on selecting witnesses and reference witnesses for the upcoming state audit.
[email protected] Jang Min-kwon Reporter