Bank of Korea Governor Nominee Shin Hyun-song [Photo=Yonhap News]

Shin Hyun-song, the nominee for Governor of the Bank of Korea, and his eldest daughter have been reported to the police on charges of deceiving the national administrative system by concealing the loss of their Korean nationality and illegally reissuing and using passports.

The Freedom Korea Homeland Group (Representative Oh Sang-jong) announced on the 20th that it had filed a complaint with the police against Shin Hyun-song, the nominee for Governor of the Bank of Korea, and his eldest daughter, on charges of △concealing loss of nationality, △illegally reissuing and improperly using passports, and △fictitious resident registration.

According to the complaint, Shin Hyun-song's eldest daughter automatically lost her Korean nationality in 1999 upon acquiring British citizenship. However, without reporting this to the authorities, she applied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a Korean passport reissue in November 2022.

The Homeland Group stated, "This is an act of deceiving the nation's passport administrative system by posing as a citizen of the Republic of Korea. She is suspected of attempting to illegally enter and exit the country by presenting a passport obtained improperly in this manner at the immigration checkpoint when departing for the United States in January 2025."

Nominee Shin Hyun-song is known to have submitted a false resident registration form when registering his eldest daughter at Donghyun Apartment in Gangnam-gu, Seoul in December 2023. At that time, Nominee Shin allegedly impersonated his daughter as a domestic resident by using her past resident registration number.

Although the nominee explained during the National Assembly confirmation hearing that he "did not understand the administrative procedures well," this directly contradicts the cases where his wife and eldest son completed their nationality loss notifications in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The Homeland Group stated that this was a deliberate act of illegality.

Oh Sang-jong, the representative of the Homeland Group, stated, "This incident is not a simple administrative error. It is an 'administrative fraud' that systematically deceived the nation's passport, immigration, and resident registration systems, and it directly undermines the basic awareness of legal compliance and morality that a nominee for the Governor of the Bank of Korea should possess. The objective evidence, including passport issuance records, immigration records, and fictitious resident registration forms, publicly disclosed by Assemblyman Chun Ha-ram, clearly points to these deceptive acts."

Oh Sang-jong, Representative of the Freedom Korea Homeland Group. ⒸHanmi Ilbo

Reporter Lim Yo-hee