Screams, accusations from lawmakers fill first day of hearing
The two-day confirmation hearing of Prime Minister nominee Kim Min-seok kicked off Tuesday, with several rival party lawmakers locking horns over scandals surrounding his assets and family.
According to People Power Party Rep. Joo Jin-woo, who reviewed Kim’s asset declarations, Kim’s assets stood at some 500 million won ($370,000) in 2020, yet the nominee spent 1.3 billion won around that time.
“There is an 800 million gap,” Joo, who is a member of the National Assembly’s special committee on personnel hearing, pointed out.
Expenses during the period included repayment of court-ordered fines, spending for his son’s overseas education and more.
On the 800 million won gap, Kim explained that around 600 million was received from book launches and congratulatory and condolence events. Politicians are often accused of inflating the prices of their books when selling them to certain groups during book launch events, as the law does not define such acts as a breach of the Political Funds Act.
The remaining 200 million was paid by his ex-wife for their son’s education. Whether they have shared custody of the son is unknown, though Kim has said his ex-wife had “taken care” of him.
Questions also rose over allegations surrounding Kim’s financial transactions with his aide and businessperson Kang Shin-sung. Kang is accused of providing Kim with illegal political funds.
People Power Party Rep. Kim Hee-jung said that the documents related to Kang and the financial transactions were not submitted to the personnel hearing committee.
Joo also said there was a lack of documents backing the source of money for Kim’s son’s overseas education, to which Kim replied, “There is no such document proving wiring of foreign currency to my eldest son.”
Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers who were members of the personnel hearing committee continued to defend Kim. They repeatedly claimed the questions were “infringement of human rights.”
Democratic Party Rep. Park Sun-won even screamed “be quiet” to People Power Party Rep. Kwak Kyu-taek. The main opposition lawmaker replied with, “Are you crazy?” Kwak later demanded an apology from Park.
On rumors that Kim plans to announce his bid for Seoul Mayor in the by-election scheduled for next year, Kim indirectly denied it, saying, “I have told the president that the position (I have been nominated for) would be the last (stop) in my political career.”
Kim's hearing marked the first time that a parliamentary confirmation hearing for a prime minister nominee was held without any witnesses since the related law was established in 2000.
People Power Party Rep. Bae June-young criticized both Kim and the ruling party for "not submitting any documents that could properly explain" the allegations surrounding the nominee.
"(Our party) has requested only five people, excluding the nominee's family and ex-wife, who were thought to be involved in shady financial transactions (with Kim) to be witnesses, but the Democratic Party has refused to comply with it," Bae added.
Democratic Party Rep. Kim Hyun shot back, saying that the lack of witnesses was due to the parties' failure to reach a consensus on the matter. The summoning of the witnesses to the hearing is also not mandatory, Kim Hyun explained.
Last week, a municipal councilor in Seoul under the People Power Party filed a complaint against Kim with prosecutors, accusing the prime minister nominee of not being transparent and inappropriately filing his assets with the government.
The Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office assigned the case to its criminal affairs division 1, but the investigation has yet to be launched as of press time.
President Lee Jae Myung has repeatedly defended Kim so far, saying that the prime minister nominee should have a chance to explain the allegations surrounding him.
The four-term liberal lawmaker, who was nominated for prime minister by President Lee Jae Myung on June 4, was convicted by the country's top court in 2005 of violating the Political Funds Act by receiving 200 million won ($146,500) in illegal funds from conglomerate SK Group in 2002
The Supreme Court in 2005 sentenced Kim to eight months in prison, two years of probation and the forfeiture of 200 million won after ruling him in violation of the Political Funds Act.
Additionally, the Supreme Court in 2010 found him guilty in a separate political slush fund case, in which he received illegal funds worth a combined 720 million won from three of his aides in 2007. He was fined 6 million won and forfeited 720 million won for violating the Political Funds Act again.
Besides the political slush fund scandals, Kim is accused of abusing his power as a lawmaker to aid his son's extracurricular projects and help him gain admission to a US university.
Critics are also questioning the master's degree Kim claims to have received from Tsinghua University in China in 2010, which was the same year he ran for mayor of Busan and failed.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
