Yoo Seung-min slams 'political investigation' after referral over daughter's hiring scandal

Former People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Seung-min, who was referred to prosecutors on charges of obstruction of business over allegations that his daughter Yu Dam, a professor at Incheon National University's Department of Trade, received preferential treatment in her hiring, said on the 16th that he would prove his innocence in a Facebook statement and denounced the investigation as a "political investigation."

That day, the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit of the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency indicted without detention and referred to prosecutors former Rep. Yoo and Incheon National University President Lee In-jae, along with two others, on obstruction of business charges. Yoo and the others are suspected of conspiring to interfere with the university's hiring process during Yu Dam's recruitment as a professor in the university's College of Global Economics and Trade in the second semester of last year. President Lee and one other Incheon National University professor also face charges of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.

In a Facebook statement posted the same day, Yoo said, "Regarding my daughter Yu Dam's hiring as a full-time faculty member at Incheon National University's Department of Trade, I have never committed the crime of obstruction of business." He added, "Yu Dam's hiring process was fair and proper," and "I will absolutely prove my innocence."

"This case has involved police and the Board of Audit and Inspection interviewing dozens of people connected to Incheon National University over the past year," he said. "As for the fairness of the hiring review, the professors who directly conducted the review and the university have testified truthfully about everything."