Prime Minister nominee Kim Min-seok strongly denied allegations Wednesday that an elderly couple committed suicide after leaving a note that he failed to repay a debt owed to them.
The allegations involving the 2004 death of a couple in their 60s have resurfaced ahead of Kim's confirmation hearings scheduled for next week.
"To cut a long story short, it is an abominable slander case initiated by the political prosecution involving a false anonymous letter," he wrote on his Facebook page. "I will not fall prey to the trick of using such a false letter two to three times."
Kim gave his own account of the couple's death, saying a local resident who had taken money from someone on the promise they would ask him for a favor, "surprisingly" committed suicide after he refused the request.
The resident, Kim claimed, also left a false note that they had handed money to him.
The nominee is a four-term lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party and a former top campaign aide to President Lee Jae Myung.
He has come under increasing scrutiny over a string of issues, including his past conviction for accepting illegal political funds and his significant increase in assets over the last five years.
The nominee has refuted each case via his Facebook page and interviews while casting them as politically motivated attacks by the prosecution and the media. (Yonhap)
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