Transport Minister Criticizes Airport Chief's Social Media Defense of Dollar-Smuggling Remarks

Incheon International Airport Corporation President Lee Hak-jae faced criticism at the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee on Thursday over his social media response to President Lee Jae-myung's public rebuke about currency smuggling methods.

Transport Minister Kim Yun-duk said Lee's Facebook post was "considerably problematic" and suggested it should be corrected.

Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Jong-gun said during the committee session that Lee's social media post was inappropriate. "Even 30-year veterans at Incheon Airport don't know this, yet you portrayed it as if the president publicly revealed a secret method known only to criminals," Yoon said.

President Lee had asked the airport chief during a ministry briefing on January 12 whether it was true that tens of thousands of dollars in $100 bills could be smuggled abroad undetected by inserting them like bookmarks in books. When the airport president failed to provide an adequate response, the president publicly rebuked him.

In response, the airport chief posted on Facebook on January 14 that "even employees who have worked at Incheon Airport for 30 years wouldn't know this unless they work in security screening," adding that "the whole world now knows that hiding dollars in bookmarks evades detection."

At Thursday's committee meeting, Lee explained that inserting 50 or 100 bills as bookmarks can be detected, but as the president noted, inserting just a few bills at a time is impossible to screen. "Whether something can be detected or not is something only the security personnel who actually conduct screenings would know, not someone like me as president or people who do general airport work," he added.

When Yoon demanded that Lee take down his Facebook post immediately and apologize to the public and the president for distorting facts, Lee pushed back. "If there's anything I expressed incorrectly, I would apologize or take it down, but the post currently on my Facebook is an accurate statement," he said.

Minister Kim also criticized Lee's social media explanation as inappropriate. "For the head of a public corporation to make statements suggesting the president didn't know about currency smuggling techniques and that he publicly taught him is considerably problematic," Kim said. "I think at minimum that statement should be corrected."

Kim added that while currency control falls under the Korea Customs Service's jurisdiction, Incheon Airport Corporation also has security responsibilities. "We will conduct an investigation and audit into how Incheon Airport Corporation has handled this matter and report to the National Assembly," the minister said.