National Agricultural Cooperative Federation President Kang Ho-dong on the 13th issued a public apology and said he would step down as head of the Nongmin Shinmun and as chair of the NongHyup Foundation. The move follows recent government audit findings that the NongHyup president, a "part-time honorary position," doubled as head of the Nongmin Shinmun, received an excessive salary totaling as much as 300 million won, and engaged in lax management. Kang also said he would step back from personnel and overall management at NongHyup and leave business operations to a dedicated chief executive.
Kang on this day apologized to the public at the headquarters building of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation in Seoul over the interim results of a special audit of NongHyup by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Kang said, "I take full responsibility and sincerely apologize for failing to live up to the expectations of the public and farmers and for causing concern." He added, "I will treat this issue not as a simple crisis response but as a starting point to set straight NongHyup's reason for being and its role."
Kang said he would resign from the posts he has concurrently held since taking office in March 2024—head of the Nongmin Shinmun and chair of the NongHyup Foundation. According to the interim audit results released by the ministry on the 8th, Kang received 390 million won from the federation last year and more than 300 million won in salary from the Nongmin Shinmun. This prompted criticism that "the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation president is a 'part-time honorary position' that does not manage operations and does not bear responsibility even if an incident occurs, yet excessive privileges are granted."
With Kang stepping down as head of the Nongmin Shinmun, he is said to have lost out on a severance payment of about 400 million won. The chair of the NongHyup Foundation does not receive a separate salary or severance.
Kang said, "I will entrust personnel and overall management to a dedicated business representative." The reason the NongHyup Act specifies the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation president as a "part-time honorary position" is to keep the person from intervening in management and to limit the role to chairing the board and representing external affairs. However, there have been accounts that the federation president in practice exerts a huge influence over overall management.
Kang said, "I will return all lodging expenses that exceeded the per diem lodging rule." An earlier audit by the agriculture ministry found that on five overseas trips after taking office, Kang exceeded the lodging cap of $250 per day by more than 40 million won. The most expensive room he stayed in was a suite costing 2.22 million won.
On the same day, National Agricultural Cooperative Federation Executive Vice President Ji Jun-seop, NongHyup mutual finance institutions chief Yeo Young-hyun, and Nongmin Shinmun CEO Kim Jeong-sik also said they would resign.
Meanwhile, Kang has been under police investigation since last year on suspicion of taking a 100 million won bribe. He is also under a travel ban. Police are investigating allegations that around the end of 2023, when Kang ran for and was favored to win the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation presidency, he received 100 million won in two installments from the head of a service contractor that has a transaction relationship with a federation affiliate.