Unification Minister nominee Hong Yong-pyo on Wednesday said sending a special envoy to North Korea could be an option to consider in the efforts to help defrost cross-border ties.

At his confirmation hearing, the former presidential unification secretary and college professor apologized for allegations of tax evasion, fake resident registration, plagiarism and other wrongdoings.

Expressing regret over strained inter-Korean relations, Hong pledged to explore the “best ways” to bring about a thaw including a behind-the-scenes meeting with North Korean officials. 

“A special envoy can be considered a way,” he said at the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and unification, when Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the ruling Saenuri Party made the suggestion. “I will look into various ways to invigorate talks and discuss key pressing issues.”

Last December, the incumbent Ryoo Kihl-jae was believed to have offered to travel to Pyongyang but failed to win the approval from President Park Geun-hye who has openly displayed resistance to any covert meeting since her swearing-in two years ago.

But many Seoul officials and scholars raised the need for unofficial talks, which they see as essential given the deep-rooted mistrust and protracted standoff.

“I was not there (when Ryoo visited Cheong Wa Dae) but got to know later on about what the minister had said,” Hong added.

While ruling party members focused on his policy views, opposition lawmakers mounted an offensive against the candidate over ethical issues.

Hong is suspected to have evaded gift tax when he bought an apartment in affluent southern Seoul as a newly married doctoral student with the help of his parents in 1992.

He has already apologized for reusing content from his own academic papers without proper citations during his stint at Hanyang University in 2010, as well as for his wife falsely registering her address in 1999 to win the right to buy a condo in the wealthy district of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

“I am sorry to have not appropriately acted such as in terms of tax,” the nominee said. “I regret it and will work very hard to make it up if given a chance.”

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)