2 days ago
Lee's civil affairs aide resigns amid fraud allegations
President Lee Jae-myung has accepted the resignation of his senior secretary for civil affairs Oh Kwang-soo, a former prosecutor touted as the figure to spearhead the reform of South Korea's legal system, the presidential office said Friday.
This came less than a week after Oh was put in charge of civil service discipline, legal affairs and civil affairs to handle popular opinion, amid controversies over failed asset disclosures in his past mandatory filings as a high-ranking public official.
Kang Yu-jung, Lee's spokesperson, said in a briefing that Lee accepted the resignation that Oh offered Thursday night. She added that Lee made the decision "given the importance of the role."
Oh, prosecutor-turned-attorney, was embroiled in controversies amid revelations that Oh — as a senior prosecutor from 2012 to 2015 — had failed to disclose properties as a civil servant his spouse owned, by putting the properties in the name of Lee's acquaintance in 2005. He was also suspected of having used the properties as collateral to arrange a personal loan for a third party in 2007.
Oh on Thursday was accused of having violated the Act on Real Name Financial Transactions and the Punishment of Tax Offenses Act, as well as of committing fraud.
The presidential office declined to confirm whether Oh had previously offered to resign over the mounting controversies.
