"Defective Scissors" vs. "Groundless Assumptions": Rival Parties Clash Over Witness List for Kim Seung-won's Hearing

[Anchor]

As rival parties engage in a war of nerves over witness selection for the confirmation hearing, the upcoming hearing next week for Minister of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won is increasingly likely to proceed without any witnesses. Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok and independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon exchanged sharp barbs today (Sept. 9) regarding suspicions surrounding nominee Kim.

Reporter Ha Jeongyeon has the details.

[Reporter]

Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok opened fire on independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon today, saying:

[Kim Min-seok / Democratic Party Leader: I believe the time has come to thoroughly verify suspicions related to cabinet leaks and evidence tampering.]

Regarding the audio recordings concerning nominee Kim Seung-won's "Ministry of Food and Drug Safety solicitation suspicions" repeatedly raised by Lawmaker Han, Leader Kim claimed that such leaks could not happen without inside collaborators within the prosecution, calling it "the spread of falsehoods" and "the malfeasance of political prosecutors," while also ordering legal action.

He twisted Han's past nickname from his days as a prosecutor:

[Kim Min-seok / Democratic Party Leader: Wouldn't it be more accurate to call him a 'defective prosecutor' or 'defective pruning shears'?]

Lawmaker Han hit back, calling Leader Kim's remarks "groundless assumptions" and announcing plans to take legal action for defamation through the dissemination of false information.

[Han Dong-hoon / Independent Lawmaker: (Representative Kim Min-seok) asserted with his own groundless assumptions that I received materials from the prosecution. I can state categorically that I have never received any materials from the prosecution, nor have I ever collaborated with them in any way.]

To the claim that "the audio recordings were spliced together," Han retorted that he merely uploaded the necessary sections and did not edit them.

The ruling and opposition parties are currently locked in a head-on collision over the adoption of witnesses for nominee Kim's confirmation hearing.

The People Power Party demanded that 44 people be called as witnesses, including Kang Se-chan, the founder of Genencell linked to the "Ministry of Food and Drug Safety solicitation suspicions," an individual surnamed Yang identified as a broker, and former Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Chief Kim Kang-lip. In response, the Democratic Party countered that not a single person should be called, arguing that the case was already concluded by the prosecution's suspension of indictment.

[Park Hyung-su / People Power Party Lawmaker: It is our duty to resolve public suspicions. Are you planning to run a toothless hearing without a single witness?]

[Kim Eui-kyeom / Democratic Party Lawmaker: If they are trying to bring back a failed case and repeat it endlessly in an infinite loop, that shouldn't be allowed.]

Nominee Kim's confirmation hearing is scheduled to be held on the 15th.

(Photo courtesy of: Yonhap News)
(Video reporting: Oh Young-chun, Lee Seung-hwan | Video editing: Yu Mira)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.