Gender Equality Minister Nominee Kim Haeng said Thursday she will help the ministry "dramatically exit" in line with President Yoon Suk Yeol's campaign pledge to abolish the ministry.
Scrapping the ministry was one of Yoon's key promises ahead of last year's presidential election amid persisting questions about the ministry's role and performance. But the pledge has not been implemented, as the proposal cannot pass through the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
"It was President Yoon Suk Yeol's election pledge to abolish the gender ministry," Kim told reporters as she made her way to a temporary office in Seoul to prepare for the upcoming parliamentary confirmation hearing.
"We will dramatically exit," she said.
Kim, who was named Wednesday to replace Yoon's first gender minister, Kim Hyun-sook, said the "dramatic exit" does not mean the fast abolition of the ministry, but that it underscores her commitment to pursue efficient policy and help ministry officials exercise their potentials in the course of the ministry's abolition.
"It means we will exit in a happy manner," she said.
Kim flatly rejected rumors of her 20-year relations with first lady Kim Keon Hee as "fake news."
"I was a university student in the 1970s, while the first lady was born in the 1970s, so I don't see a connection here," she said. "Those who make fake news are a social malaise ... Insisting that my daughter, who was born in 1983, is close with the first lady seems more complete."
Regarding the impending investigation by the Board of Audit and Inspection into the gender ministry's role in the organization of the 2023 World Scout Jamboree, Kim said she will "ward off political attacks in matters where the responsibility is not clear-cut."
The World Scout Jamboree, hosted in Saemangeum, a reclaimed land area on the southwestern South Korean coast, from Aug. 1 to 12, drew worldwide criticism for its lack of preparation in the face of severe weather conditions, including a heat wave and typhoon, and poor facilities at the campsite, resulting in the early departure of some of the participants.
Source: Yonhap News Agency