Minister Kim Yun-duk of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport publicly pointed out the attitude of Lee Hak-jae, head of Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC), during a briefing by affiliated agencies. Regarding the controversy over introducing a new valet parking service, Kim said, "Rather than prioritizing expert judgments, a posture of listening to different opinions should come first."
On the 14th, during the "Part 3: Livelihood and safety" session of a briefing by public institutions under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) at the Government Complex Sejong, the Minister told Lee, "Basic attitude matters," adding, "If we (Incheon International Airport Corporation) start the discussion on the premise that what we decided was made by top experts, then other voices will inevitably be excluded."
This came after Lee said it was problematic for MOLIT to launch a special audit over the operation plan for the new valet parking service that IIAC is pursuing, saying, "This is a policy crafted by the world's top experts, and it is a problem to conduct an audit even before implementation." In response, the Minister said, "Even if we prepared sincerely from the public's perspective, we need a process to hear what inconveniences others feel."
At the briefing, concerns were also raised that the yet-to-be-implemented overhaul of Incheon Airport's valet parking service could increase passenger inconvenience and expense. Joo Jong-wan, director general for aviation policy at MOLIT, said, "As the vehicle handover point for valet parking is transferred to a location away from the terminal, passengers will face the inconvenience of taking a shuttle bus for about 10 minutes," adding, "Premium service fees are also set to rise from the current 20,000 won to around 40,000 won."
In response, Lee countered, "Previously, valet operators used 1,800 spaces in the short-term parking lot, about 40% of the total, which greatly inconvenienced passengers who wanted to park directly," adding, "Changing the operating method will increase short-term parking spaces and resolve the chronic parking problem." Lee also said, "By aligning the vehicle storage and handover locations, we reduced travel time from 10 minutes to within 2 minutes, and also lowered the risk of theft and damage."
Even so, Lee said, "It is regrettable that a special audit began even before examining the positive effects of the policy," adding, "Incheon Airport has top experts in the field, and this is a policy prepared after sufficient discussion."
President Lee Jae-myung directly rebuked Lee Hak-jae over IIAC's response to illegal foreign currency outflows during a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport briefing in Dec. last year. At the time, as he asked whether the response to illegal foreign currency outflows was being carried out properly and Lee failed to provide a clear answer, the president pointed out, "I'm asking whether it's being done properly, so why do you keep going off on a tangent?" He also made remarks to the effect that "You don't seem interested" and "It has been a while since you took office, but your grasp of the work is lacking."