Former lawmaker Na Gyeong-won met former Minister Jin Dae-je (left). Photos Na Kyung-won Facebook
“A burden? What a great deal… ”
The People’s Strength Former Minister of Information and Communication Jin Dae-je, who joined the election camp advisor to former lawmaker Na Gyeong-won, a candidate for the mayor of Seoul, said, “It is only to play a role in contemplating the development of Seoul city.” This is the answer to the question,’As a current entrepreneur, did you have any hesitation about publicly helping the opposition candidate?’ “I don’t think that the role of an advisor should be felt as a burden,” Jin said in a call at the JoongAng Ilbo on the 9th. I don’t think it’s important.”
Rep. Na said the day before, “Former Minister Jin, who is the leading player in the semiconductor myth and leading the 4th industrial revolution agenda, has decided to give us strength.” Former Minister Jin served as the General Representative of Samsung Electronics Digital Media, and served as the longest minister (2003-2006) in the Roh Moo-hyun administration. Currently, he is the CEO of Skylake Investment, an investment company. Skylake acquired Doosan Solus (now Solus Advanced Materials), a company that produced battery materials for electric vehicles for sale in the process of improving the Doosan Group’s financial structure, and Jin is also the CEO of the company.
- Have you consulted with other executives such as the company’s co-representative in advance?
- “There was no such thing.”
In 2018, former Minister Jin Dae-je joined the Na Kyung-won camp. Central photo
“Forum friendship with Na Kyung-won”
- What kind of relationship do you have with the former lawmaker?
- “I am acquainted with working together at a forum discussing political and economic issues. Some say that I joined the Lee Myung-bak (MB) camp during the 2007 presidential election and started getting close to the camp spokesman, Na Kyung-won, but it is wrong that I joined the MB camp.”
- In fact, did I declare support for former lawmakers?
- “There is a market advisory organization called the Seoul City Innovation Growth Committee, and I have been the chairman of the committee for more than two years. As such, he has a lot of interest and experience in developing Seoul. The person who came to know about that was me, a former lawmaker. Former Mayor Park Won-soon is the person who entrusted the chairman of the Innovation Growth Committee. Regardless of the facts, if I ask for a role to help the development of Seoul, I am just working on it.”
- It is said that he tried to run for mayor of Seoul himself, but is it true?
- “I’ll leave it to the imagination.”
※ On this day, Kang Seon-woo, a spokesman for the Democratic Party, aimed at former Minister Jin, saying, “He was a man who made his efforts to demonstrate his willingness to run for mayor of Seoul several months ago. It was criticized as “absurd recruitment of talent”.
Former Minister Jin Dae-je (far left) and former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon (center). Newsis
“Political action? I don’t know”
- Do you have any plans to jump into politics yourself later?
- “That’s unknown. In fact, it was correct that I thought about trying (running) myself while serving as the Seoul Innovation Committee chairman. However, I decided that it was not appropriate from the standpoint of running the company. The money collected in the Skylake Fund alone exceeds 3 trillion won. In such a situation, I responded because a former lawmaker came and asked me to do it together.”
- What plans does Solus Advanced Materials have this year?
- “Solus Advanced Materials is drawing attention from the media because it is linked to Doosan News in a listing accident, and in fact, Skylake has 10 companies. It is one of the many companies we need to develop from our point of view.”
Reporter Sunwook Choi [email protected]