Minister Won Hee-ryong’s Controversial Claims on Late Construction Worker Yang Hoi-dong: Updates and Reactions

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong said of the alter ego of the late construction worker Yang Hoi-dong, “(At the behavior of a colleague around Yang), there is no change in my ambivalence.” Even though the police stated that “Yang’s colleague did not aid in the self-immolation,” he repeated the previous claim. In response to a question from Min Byeong-deok, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, who asked, “Do you have any intention of apologizing for the Facebook post containing these claims,” ​​Minister Won answered, “I have never evaluated or mentioned Yang’s death itself.” He said, “I saw the story of the vice chairman (deputy head) of (Yang’s colleague, Construction Union Gangwon Construction Branch) who was next to him saying that there had been no action or remark to dissuade (Mr. Yang) at all for about a minute, and he was so shocked that he said that was questionable. ” he replied. He added, “As for what I pointed out, the reputation of the deceased was not damaged or the death of the deceased was not evaluated, so various (apology) requests or criticisms were aimed at the wrong target.” Previously, on the 17th of last month, Minister Won mentioned a report on his Facebook page that said, “There are suspicious parts, such as his colleague not reporting to the fire department,” in relation to Yang, who set himself on fire on Labor Day in protest of the government’s suppression of construction unions. At the same time, he caused controversy by writing, “I can’t help but wonder if (the union) was trying to use the death of a colleague as a driving force for struggle.” Later, the police in charge of Mr. Yang’s case at the time said that they had not found anything unusual, saying, “There was nothing charged with aiding and abetting suicide (related to Yang’s self-immolation)” after the claim of aiding and abetting self-immolation came out. Nonetheless, Minister Won continued to insist that Yang’s colleague’s behavior was unreasonable in a government question that day. Minister Won said, “When the vice chairperson (deputy branch manager) went at that time and was 10 meters away, seeing various statements (Yang’s colleague) reported after that, he said, ‘I don’t remember’ at the crucial time.” ‘I don’t remember’, isn’t this a story I heard often somewhere?” To the question of Sim Sang-jeong, a member of the Justice Party, who asked, “Do you still think that I am a planning alter ego?”, he refuted, “Planning or aiding and abetting me is a frame woven from the frame of trying to drag and attack me with the wrong number.” He said, “The vice chairman’s silent and indifferent behavior (he raised a problem)” and asked, “Vice Chairman, don’t you still remember?” Rep. Shim said, “As the Minister of State, I defamed the lion. This is immorality,” he said. “Before being a politician, you have to be a human being. When he pointed out that the era of using even death as political agitation must end, Minister Won responded by saying, “Why are you forcibly driving the focus wrong?” On the 22nd of last month, the construction union and Yang’s bereaved family filed a complaint with the police against the reporter and Minister Won, who wrote the article on the suspicion of aiding and abetting self-immolation, for defamation and defamation of death. Reporter Kang Jae-gu j9@hani.co.kr