Fix the toilet bowl!” “I am a member of the National Assembly! …46 people were dismissed from office in 5 years… “Korean Female Ministerial Candidate” Allegations of Extreme Power Harassment.

Power harassment has long been a serious social issue. In South Korea, too, the alleged power harassment of a female legislator whom President Lee Jae-myung has nominated as a ministerial candidate has become an issue.

The person at the center of the controversy is Kang Son-woo, 47, a member of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, who was a candidate for Minister of the Ministry of Women and Family Affairs (“ministry” in Japan, “director” is minister). In the five years since Kang was first elected in April 2008, a total of 46 aides have quit their posts. When his own words and actions were called into question, Kang withdrew from the Cabinet on July 23.

She has been focusing on education issues based on her experience of raising a child with disabilities. Her selection as a candidate for Minister of the Ministry of Women and Family Affairs is probably due to her efforts in this area. However, immediately after President Lee nominated Councilor Kang as a candidate for Minister of Education, allegations of severe power harassment surfaced due to accusations by opposition party members.

(Reprimanding emails sent every 10 minutes)

The nature of the allegations against Councilor Kang made by the opposition party members is horrendous. Shinichi Hen, editor-in-chief of Korea Report and an expert on the situation in South Korea, said, “Immediately after his election, Kang was accused of being an aide to the president.

Immediately after he was elected, he demanded that his aides “fix the toilet bowl” and “throw away the garbage” because the toilet in his house was broken. We heard that Councilor Kang also liked to drink, and when he got drunk, he would call his aides in the middle of the night and have them drive him home.

He would send an e-mail to the aide about once every 10 minutes, sometimes reprimanding the aide with harsh words when the aide made a mistake. Aides who leave, whether by discharge or resignation, usually find work in the office of another ruling party member, but Councilor Kang allegedly pressured his fellow councilors not to hire aides who had left him.”

The allegations of Kang’s power harassment are not limited to aides.

According to the police who launched an investigation, in July 2011, during the outbreak of the new type of corona, he forcefully barged into a hospital that forbade visitors unless they could prove that they were “negative in a PCR test taken within 72 hours,” saying, “I am a member of the National Assembly! and tried to meet with his relatives who had been admitted to the hospital.

At the time, Kang denied any power harassment, saying, “I visited the hospital to receive vaccinations in preparation for my visit to Africa in August (of the same year).

Mr. Byeon continues, “Councilor Kang was a professor at a prestigious Korean university.

Kang, a professor at a prestigious South Korean university, was a well-known personality who had served as a panelist and TV anchor on debate programs before entering national politics. When President Lee was fasting in protest against former President Yun Seong-yeol’s strong-arm politics, he took advantage of the situation by covering him with a blanket. President Lee may have wanted to bring Senator Kang into his cabinet as a minister because of his debt of gratitude and name recognition.

However, Korean society is even stricter than Japan’s in terms of power harassment, sexual harassment, and other forms of noncompliance. In particular, members of the National Assembly, especially ministerial candidates, are required to have appropriate ethical standards. The power harassment allegations against Councilor Kang are not merely a personal scandal. It is a major social issue that will give him a one-shot deal if he is to exercise leadership in South Korea.”

Following Kang’s withdrawal from the cabinet, President Lee’s approval rating, which took office in June, has continued to decline since late July.