The committee chairman, Sen. Frank Q. Cruz, said Kwang Joong Kim, former general manager of Asiana Airlines, is not a U.S. citizen so he is not eligible to be appointed to the MVA board.
Kim, who is now the president of Laolao Bay Golf Resort, was also named by the governor as MVA’s honorary ambassador of tourism.
In his letter to Senate President Paul A. Manglona, Ind.-Rota, Cruz said his committee cannot act on Kim’s nomination, citing a commonwealth law that requires U.S. citizenship in any appointment to CNMI board and commissions.
Cruz, R-Tinian, said the law provides that a maximum of two persons who are not U.S. citizens may serve as members of the MVA board, but they must be chosen by the current board members and not by the governor.
The law allows the governor to appoint five members to MVA, and allows its board to choose four.
Those that require governor’s appointment and the Senate’s consent should be U.S. citizens, Cruz said.
“The committee…does not have legal authority to consider Mr. Kim’s nomination,” Cruz said.
Kim, he added, is eligible to serve as board member only if he is one of the two non-U.S. citizens already chosen by members of the MVA board.
In an email, Press Secretary Angel A. Demapan said the appointment of Kim is not an oversight on the part of the governor.
The administration, he said, consulted the law that established MVA and its board of directors.
According to Demapan, “In considering Kim to fill the void on the MVA board, the administration concluded that not only will he be an added asset to the board, but also that his nomination is in conformity with governing statutes.”
“The administration takes executive appointments very seriously and the governor and lt. governor make it a point to ensure that all governing laws pertaining to each nomination is properly adhered to.”
