President-elect distancing himself from troubled nominee

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol and health minister nominee Chung Ho-young / Yonhap

By Nam Hyun-woo

As health minister nominee Chung Ho-young becomes embroiled in numerous allegations in regards to himself and his children, it seems that President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is attempting to put distance between himself and the nominee.

During a press conference, Tuesday, Yoon's spokesperson Bae Hyun-jin denied the media reports that the president-elect and Chung have been friends for some 40 years.

"We've seen many media reports which described the two as old friends, but they are wrong," Bae said when asked if Yoon is trying to protect his old friend from the allegations that were raised.

"The two people each spent their school years in Seoul (Yoon) and Daegu (Chung), and established their careers as a prosecutor and a medical doctor, respectively."

Chung's relations with Yoon have been a subject of interest since the former was nominated as Minister of Health and Welfare on April 10.

Chung is a medical doctor who spent most of his days at Kyungpook National University Hospital in Daegu. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) raised suspicions that Chung got the plum job because of his reported friendship with the president-elect.

Health minister nominee Chung Ho-young reads a statement as he enters his office at National Pension Service North Seoul headquarters in Seodaemun District, Tuesday. Yonhap

Chung was reported as Yoon's close confidant because of his remarks in an interview with Daegu-based Yeongnam Ilbo newspaper before he was nominated as health minister. Chung described Yoon as "a friend who has not been changing for 40 years" and he has a memory of Yoon "treating his friends all the time."

Yoon was born and educated in Seoul, while Chung was born and educated in North Gyeongsang Province and Daegu.

During a separate interview with monthly magazine Shindonga on April 11, Chung said he and Yoon have a mutual friend through who they got to know each other 40 years ago, and associated with Yoon several times when Yoon was a prosecutor for Daegu District Prosecutors' Office in 1994.

Chung changed his tune after he was nominated as health minister. He said Yoon is his "acquaintance," not an old friend, noting some media's description of their 40-year-old friendship as being an exaggeration.

Chung's description of his ties with Yoon stirred up allegations of cronyism and its appears as though it could deal a blow to Yoon as the former is mired in allegations that he used his position to help his two children transfer to medical school, his alma mater, while his son allegedly avoided mandatory military service.

As controversies surrounding Chung made headlines, Bae's comments that denied a friendship between Yoon and Chung are interpreted as the president-elect's intention to distance himself from the nominee amid growing doubts on the nominee within the PPP.

PPP's Supreme Council member Kim Yong-tae appeared in a radio interview Tuesday and compared the controversies related to Chung to that of former justice minister Cho Kuk, who faced allegations that he unfairly helped his daughter to enter medical school and left the position in disgrace. President Moon Jae-in's efforts to protect Cho in 2019 backfired against the ruling bloc, allowing Yoon, who ordered investigations into Cho, to take the office three years later.

"Though the cases of Chung and Cho are different, the public felt that they were deceived due to Cho's case," Kim said. "In the past five years, the PPP learned that it has to take lessons from the wrongdoings of the DPK, and I demanded Chung's resignation because the public has a high expectation on the fairness of the Yoon government."

Despite the controversies, Chung told reporters Tuesday that he will give up the post, stressing there was "no illegality" related to his children's medical school admission or military service.

"If the public is unhappy (about the current situation), I feel sorry for that," Chung said. "However, I want to emphasize that there was no illegality or unfairness."

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