Chairperson Choi Min-hee of the National Assembly Science. ICT. Broadcasting. and Communications Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea said regarding the controversy over her child's wedding that there was "absolutely no instance of delivering wedding invitations to corporations or audited agencies."
Park Jin-hyung, an aide in Chairperson Choi Min-hee's office, posted on Choi's Facebook on the 21st, saying, "There was absolutely no instance of delivering wedding invitations to corporations or audited agencies," and added, "Neither Rep. Choi Min-hee nor anyone in the office has ever sent invitations or made contact with corporations, agencies, or organizations."
Aide Park said, "Rep. Choi Min-hee's child became independent at age 20 and has lived alone for nearly 10 years," and explained, "The wedding date and venue, too, were decided by the child without the mother's involvement." He added that the reservation for Sarangjae at the National Assembly, where the wedding was held, was made directly by Choi's child through the National Assembly's internal system; after failing once in a first-come, first-served competition, the child again took part in a first-come, first-served process for a slot that opened when a previous reservation was canceled and secured the booking.
Aide Park said, "(The lawmaker's) child is preparing for both the labor attorney exam and the law school entrance exam throughout 2025, and could only get married in the fall after completing all exam schedules," and added, "If it had been postponed to next spring to avoid the parliamentary audit, that period would have been right before the local elections, making another controversy unavoidable. It is clear there was no other intent behind the schedule of this wedding."
Chairperson Choi also explained the situation in person at the National Assembly's parliamentary audit of the Science. ICT. Broadcasting. and Communications Committee held that day. Rep. Park Jeong-hun of the People Power Party asked Second Vice Minister Ryu Je-myeong of the Ministry of Science and ICT and Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) President Lee Sang-jung during the audit whether they had given congratulatory cash gifts for Choi's child's wedding, arguing, "To proceed with the audit, you must first return all congratulatory money received from audited agencies and related agencies."
In response, Chairperson Choi said, "Some People Power Party lawmakers and people outside the Assembly are spreading false claims that I distributed wedding invitations to audited agencies, that I am collecting money from large corporations, and that I distributed mobile invitations with bank account numbers," and explained, "When my daughter was in high school and I ran for the National Assembly, she was subjected to so much slander that she received psychological counseling for a long time. So it is not a relationship where the mother's words unilaterally prevail. She does everything independently and prefers to live as separately as possible."
Chairperson Choi also wiped away tears while speaking about her child.
At the parliamentary audit the previous day, when the controversy over her child's wedding was raised, Chairperson Choi also apologized, saying, "If you look at my questioning, I couldn't pay attention to my daughter's wedding because I was studying quantum mechanics. I truly feel sorry," and added, "It was my fault that I didn't tell my daughter not to receive flower wreaths."