Candidate Joo-ho Lee, Deputy Prime Minister of Social Affairs and Minister of Education. Reporter Hwang Jin-hwan
It has been confirmed that the 34-year-old daughter of Lee Joo-ho, a candidate for deputy prime minister and education minister, is a dual citizen (dual nationality) who has not given up his American citizenship.
On the 17th, the office of Rep. Seo Dong-yong, a member of the National Assembly’s Education Committee, confirmed with the Ministry of Education’s personnel hearing preparation team, that Lee’s daughter submitted the ‘oath of non-foreign nationality’ to the Ministry of Justice on June 9, 2010 and maintained multiple citizenship on July 20. . Her daughter was born in the United States and is a ‘multiple nationality by birth’.
Korea does not allow multiple citizenships, so people with multiple citizenships had to choose one nationality before turning 22. However, with the revision of the Nationality Act in May 2010, multiple citizenships were allowed if the ‘oath of non-existence of foreign nationality’ was submitted to the Ministry of Justice. The ‘oath of non-existence of foreign nationality’ is a pledge not to exercise foreign nationality in Korea.
However, the time when the daughter decided to retain dual citizenship was when Lee was serving as the first vice minister of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. In response, Rep. Seo Dong-yong said, “Allowing a candidate to have dual citizenship so that he can live as an American in the United States and as a Korean in Korea while serving as a high-ranking public servant serving Korea and the people is not worthy of a position that requires high morality. ” criticized.
Reporter Hwang Jin-hwan
After graduating from foreign language high school, Lee’s daughter went to an Ivy League university in the United States, completed her bachelor’s and doctoral degrees, and is now working as an assistant professor in the United States. Candidate Lee had argued in 2006 when he was a member of the National Assembly that “educational institutions called foreign language high schools can absorb the demand for studying abroad and prevent the outflow of national wealth due to early study abroad.” Rep. Seo criticized, “The candidate who was concerned regarding the leakage of national wealth due to studying abroad at an early age actually sent his children to an Ivy League university with US citizenship following graduating from a prestigious foreign language high school.”
In response, the Ministry of Education’s personnel hearing preparation team said, “The candidate respected the will of his adult daughter.” “The daughter was born in 1988 while studying in the United States. As the revised system of multiple citizenships was implemented, in June 2010, I pledged to ‘non-existence of foreign nationality’ and chose multiple nationalities.”
Previously, former Education Minister Song Ja in 2000 under the Kim Dae-jung administration and former Minister of Education and Human Resources Lee Ki-jun in 2005 during the Roh Moo-hyun administration resigned from their ministerial posts due to the dual international problem of their children. Two daughters were found to have multiple citizenships, and both of them went through the process of relinquishing their American citizenship.