고승덕 후보는 최근 이중국적 문제와 관련해 구설에 오르며 논란이 된 바 있다. 이미 '세월호 참사'와 관련해 부적절한 발언으로 파문을 일으킨 한기총 임원회에 참석하여 문제가 지적되자 사실이 아니라고 해명을 했으나 이 조차 거짓임이 알려져 문제가 된 바 있는 고 후보는 아들의 이중국적 문제와 병역 기피 의혹으로 또 다시 발목을 잡혔다.
그러나 고 후보는 기자회견을 열고 자신의 아들은 "우연히 미국에서 태어나 이중국적을 갖게된 것"이라고 말했으며 "병역은 연기해 놓은 것일 뿐"이라고 해명하며 눈물을 흘리며 억울함을 호소했다. 또한 이 자리에서 고 후보는 "아무리 선거에 이기기 위한 것이지만 지나친 네거티브"라고 강조하며 "문제가 있다면 자신이 책임을 질테니 가족은 건드리지 말아달라"고 호소했다. 눈물의 호소를 통해 오히려 뜨거운 부성애를 보인 것이다.
그러나 고 후보의 눈물의 호소 하루만에 고 후보의 친딸은 SNS를 통해 고 후보에 대해 '교육감이 될 자격이 없는 인물'이라고 일침을 가했다.
자신이 고 후보의 장녀라고 밝힌 고희경 씨(고캔디)는 31일, 자신의 페이스북에 ‘To the Citizens of Seoul(서울시민들께)’라는 장문의 글을 올렸다. 자신이 고 후보와 전 부인인 박윤아씨 사이에서 태어났다고 밝힌 고희경씨는 고 후보가 친자식들의 교육에 전혀 신경쓰지 않았던 사람이며, 자신들에게 아무것도 가르치거나 교육하려 하지 않았다고 폭로했다.
자신이 11살이 된 이후로 고 후보가 자신과 자신의 남동생에게 해 온 적 없었다고 밝힌 고희경씨는 그러한 '생물학적 아버지'의 도움없이 자라서 현재 대학교와 대학원을 졸업하고 로스쿨에 입학할 예정이라고 전하며, 이러한 모든 것은 어머니와 외할아버지가 있었기 때문에 가능했다고 적었다.
또한 교육감이 서울의 교육시스템과 정책을 감독하는 자리라면 고 후보는 이러한 역할에 있어서 전혀 문외환이고 모르는 인물이라고 강조했다. 친자식조차 교육하려하지 않은 사람이 도시의 교육을 책임지는 리더가 되어서는 안된다는 것이 고희경씨의 주장이다.
고희경씨는 서울의 교육시스템을 진정으로 생각하고 그러기 위해서는 가장 가까운 존재인 자식들 또한 신경쓸 줄 아는 사람이 되어야 할 것이라고 말하며, 비록 지금 서울시민은 아니지만 과거에 서울시민이었고 많은 옛 친구들을 서울에 두고 있는 전 서울시민으로서, 서울 시민들이 서울의 미래에 대해 올바른 결정을 내리기를 바란다며, 고 후보가 되어서는 안된다고 강조했다.
이하는 고희경씨의 페이스북 글 원문이다.
To the Citizens of Seoul,
I am not a citizen of your city, but I write you today out of urgency and dire concern for the future of your city’s education system.
My name is Candy Koh, once known as Hee Kyung Koh (고희경) during my residence in South Korea from the year 1991 to 1998. I am the first of two children between Yooah Park and Seung Duk Koh, a candidate for Seoul’s Superintendent of Education in the current elections. When his candidacy came to my attention recently, I could not, in good conscience, stay silent as his child. Seoul’s citizens deserve know the truth about the person they may be choosing to represent and be in charge of Seoul’s education system: Seung Duk Koh never partook in the education of his own children.
I was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1987 while my mother and Koh were still married. After my brother was born in New Jersey in 1991, we all moved to Korea. I have next to no memories of his being present to teach me or my brother anything, even when I was old enough to have such memories. When my mother brought me and my brother to the U.S. to send us to a school in New York, Koh stayed in Korea and also decided to stop contacting us altogether.
I was still only 11 years old when I had to get used to a life without a father. I missed out on Father’s Day every year. I hated it when people asked me where my father was or what he did and I eventually began to reply that I do not know, because he never told me. Despite the existence of a telephone and Internet, Koh never called me or my brother to ask how we were doing. Asking for a call or gifts on our birthday was not even in the scope of our imagination because he did not acknowledge his own children’s existence. Of course he never supported our education in any way, including financially.
Despite this, I was able to go through college and graduate school as one of the top students in my class. To better apply my interest in public service, I also plan to begin law school in the fall with a merit scholarship. I am proud that I have managed to achieve this much without my biological father. I could not have done it without my mother who single-handedly raised both her children or my maternal grandfather—my mother’s father—who provided me the psychological support of a father throughout my life until he passed.
Meanwhile as I grew up in the U.S., I saw through the Korean media that Koh would give lectures to children on how to study or how to “succeed.” I also saw that he spoke to parents on how best to educate their children. When I first saw the latter in the early 2000s, I became angry, as he did not educate his own children, but rather completely disregarded them. However, I was still a child, barely in my teens, and I was also living in the U.S. What could I do? I felt that I had no choice but to keep silent. Despite seeing the praises he received from many Koreans for his achievements and so-called brilliance, I kept silent because I didn’t think my voice mattered. I am also an American and perhaps felt I had no business engaging in dialogues particular to the Korean political scene. However, Seung Duk Koh’s running for the seat as Seoul’s Superintendent of Education is crossing the line. For me to keep silent here would be to deceive the citizens of Seoul.
As a child he neither educated nor rarely even spoke to, I must inform the citizens of Seoul that he does not qualify for this position. If the role of a superintendent of education is to look after the educational policies and systems of a city, Seung Duk Koh is a stranger to this role. How can he act as the leader of education for a city when he is unwilling to teach his own flesh and blood?
Education is one of the most important things in the world. It shapes people in whose hands the future lies—the future of your city, your nation, and the world. I, his own daughter, never received support from him for my own education. As a former citizen of Seoul still with many friends who reside there, I trust that you will make the right decision for the future of your city and choose a candidate better suited for the position: someone who truly cares about the Seoul’s education system and someone who begins by caring for those nearest to him, his own children.
Sincerely,
Candy Koh
사진 : 뉴시스, 고희경씨 페이스북 캡쳐
[저작권자ⓒ 토요경제. 무단전재-재배포 금지]
