Allegations have surfaced that Lee Hye-hoon, the nominee for Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Budget, routinely engaged in "gapjil," including verbally abusing an intern staffer when she was a lawmaker.

According to a TV CHOSUN report on the 1st, an audio recording was released in which the nominee shouted at and verbally abused an office intern about eight years ago.

Former People Power Party lawmaker Lee Hye-hoon, nominated as the first Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Budget, heads to the personnel hearing preparation office set up at the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 30th last month. /Courtesy of News1

According to the recording, in 2017, when the nominee was a lawmaker with the Bareun Party, Lee repeatedly used abusive language during a phone call with A, who was an intern in the office at the time. Lee scolded A for not reporting a news article that mentioned Lee's name, saying, "Do you not understand Korean? What, is your IQ in the single digits?"

When A explained, "For items where (the lawmaker's) name is just included, we don't have to report…," Lee shouted, "Hey! Hey!" and said, "I really wish I could kill you. Just because you have a mouth, you think you can babble and blab however you want?"

This call continued for about three minutes, and A was said to have left the office two weeks later. In the report, A said, "I felt a sense of personal humiliation," and claimed, "While working in the office for six months, I was tormented by the nominee's abusive language and shouting." A also said, "I believe the way one treats subordinates and basic manners toward people are important criteria for evaluating a high-ranking public official."

The nominee's side said, "If such an incident occurred, we sincerely apologize to the person who was hurt and convey that we deeply reflect."

The People Power Party expelled the nominee after Lee continued party duties without disclosing the nomination to Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Budget, and it also criticized the latest "gapjil allegations." People Power Party Supreme Council member Yang Hyang-ja said on SBS Radio's "Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show" the same day, "These were stories we had long heard, so there was nothing to be surprised about," adding, "Only a milder form of the various verbal abuses was made public." Yang added, "The nominee's character will be fully revealed at the confirmation hearing," and said, "If additional gapjil is disclosed, the public anger gauge will rise significantly."

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