Cabinet nominee quits over loyalty row
Source: Agencies |
March 6, 2013, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A Korean American handpicked to head South Korea's new science and technology ministry has resigned suddenly and returned to the US in a setback for the country's first female president.
Jeong H. Kim, who moved to the US with his parents at age 15, blamed political wrangling over the responsibilities of the science and technology ministry for his decision.
President Park Geun-hye's nomination of Kim, a former head of Bell Labs, was meant to highlight the new government's openness to overseas talent and innovation in a country where the economy is dominated by family-owned conglomerates.
But political opponents questioned Kim's loyalty to South Korea and his links to the US Central Intelligence Agency as a member of its board of external advisers for four years until 2011.
Adding fuel to the loyalty doubts was the fact Kim regained his South Korean citizenship just before his nomination was announced last month and remained a dual citizen of the US.
He insisted at a press conference on Monday that his resignation was due to the intense disagreement in parliament over the scope of the science and technology ministry which will pull together responsibilities currently scattered across several ministries including powers to regulate the media.
"I gave up everything I worked for in the United States and returned to the motherland where I was born to devote the rest of my life," Kim said in Korean at the news conference. "As I saw the controversy and confusion over the government reorganization bill, my dream to dedicate everything for the homeland was shattered."
Kim, 52, and his family would have faced grueling scrutiny in parliament and the media before being confirmed as minister.
Jeong H. Kim, who moved to the US with his parents at age 15, blamed political wrangling over the responsibilities of the science and technology ministry for his decision.
President Park Geun-hye's nomination of Kim, a former head of Bell Labs, was meant to highlight the new government's openness to overseas talent and innovation in a country where the economy is dominated by family-owned conglomerates.
But political opponents questioned Kim's loyalty to South Korea and his links to the US Central Intelligence Agency as a member of its board of external advisers for four years until 2011.
Adding fuel to the loyalty doubts was the fact Kim regained his South Korean citizenship just before his nomination was announced last month and remained a dual citizen of the US.
He insisted at a press conference on Monday that his resignation was due to the intense disagreement in parliament over the scope of the science and technology ministry which will pull together responsibilities currently scattered across several ministries including powers to regulate the media.
"I gave up everything I worked for in the United States and returned to the motherland where I was born to devote the rest of my life," Kim said in Korean at the news conference. "As I saw the controversy and confusion over the government reorganization bill, my dream to dedicate everything for the homeland was shattered."
Kim, 52, and his family would have faced grueling scrutiny in parliament and the media before being confirmed as minister.
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