ROK Finance Ministry Dismisses Whistleblower as Low Level Employee

Here is the response from the Finance Ministry about the claims of interfering in private companies and politics by a whistleblower:

The current and former finance ministers finally broke their silence over controversial claims by a whistle-blower that the ministry issued deficit-financing bonds unnecessarily and tried to change the CEO of Korea Tobacco & Ginseng (KT&G), a private sector company. 

Current Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Friday that the whistle-blower, former Finance Ministry employee Shin Jae-min, misunderstood what was going on because he had limited information as a low-level employee. Decisions by his predecessor Kim Dong-yeon would have considered all economic factors, he said, suggesting that political influence or pressure were not part of the picture. 

“When it comes to ‘facts’ there was no outside pressure,” Hong said. 

“[Former Finance Minister] Kim would have made decisions considering the various factors.” 

Hong said while whistle-blower Shin, who was working in the ministry’s treasury bureau, might have had his own thoughts on the issuing of bonds, former Finance Minister Kim had to make decisions with a long-term view with managing the government’s fiscal policy for the next five years.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the responses really don’t fully dispute the whistleblowers claims.