Oceans and fisheries minister nominee Kang Do-hyung said he will face public judgment over his past records of drunk driving and violence in a parliamentary confirmation hearing.

Asked whether he believed that such records render him unqualified for the job on Monday, Kang said a detailed explanation will be necessary at the hearing.

The nominee said he had done things he should not have done when he was young, but stressed that he has changed his ways since then as he apologized to the public.

A marine science researcher, Kang has headed the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology(KIOST) since February of  this year.

In 2004, the nominee, aged 34 at the time, was ordered to pay a fine of one-point-five million won, or a little over one-thousand U.S. dollars, for DUI. Five years prior, he was hit with a 300-thousand-won penalty for violating the Punishment of Violence Act.