Zero Witnesses in 'Hollow' Hearing: Neither Yang Nor Anyone Else Will Attend

[Anchor]

The adoption of witnesses for the confirmation hearing of Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won has completely failed. Although there are many people who need to be directly questioned regarding the allegations, such as Kang Se-chan, the founder of the new drug company Genencell, and a person surnamed Yang designated as a broker, not a single one of them will appear at next week's hearing.

This is a report by Ha Jeongyeon.

[Reporter]

Regarding the adoption of witnesses for the confirmation hearing of Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won, ruling and opposition lawmakers engaged in a battle of wits without finding common ground at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee yesterday (September 9).

The People Power Party demanded that 44 people be called as witnesses, including Genencell founder Kang Se-chan, who is tied to the suspicion of lobbying the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, a person surnamed Yang identified as a broker, and former Minister of Food and Drug Safety Kim Gang-lip. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party countered that it was a case already concluded by the prosecution's suspension of indictment, meaning not a single witness would be allowed.

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

[Kim Eui-gyeom / Democratic Party Lawmaker: If they are going to bring back a case that failed back then and keep looping and repeating it endlessly, shouldn't that be impermissible?]

According to the National Assembly Hearing Act, attendance requests must be served five days prior to the hearing—meaning by midnight yesterday—to have legal binding force to compel attendance. As negotiations overnight also failed to narrow the gap, nominee Kim's hearing will effectively take place without any witnesses.

Meanwhile, Democratic Party Leader Kim Min-seok launched continuous offensives against independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, who has been releasing transcripts related to nominee Kim, stating that such actions could not happen without collaborators within the prosecution, and ordered legal action yesterday.

Twisting the nickname that Lawmaker Han had during his past days as a prosecutor, he said:

[Kim Min-seok / Democratic Party Leader: 'Joseon delinquent prosecutor,' 'Joseon delinquent tailoring scissors'—wouldn't phrasing it somewhat like this be more accurate?]

Lawmaker Han hit back, calling it "Leader Kim's groundless personal fiction" and stating he would take criminal action for the spread of false information.

[Han Dong-hoon / Independent Lawmaker: (Democratic Party Leader Kim Min-seok) asserted with his personal fiction that I received materials from the prosecution. I assert that I have never received any materials from the prosecution, nor have I ever cooperated with the prosecution in any way.]

The confirmation hearing for nominee Kim will be held on September 15.

(Video by Oh Young-chun and Lee Seung-hwan | Video Editing by Park Sun-su)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.