Kim Seung-won, Justice Minister Nominee, Apologizes Over Controversies Ahead of Confirmation Hearing

Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won addressed various suspicions surrounding him today (the 11th), stating, "As a politician, I sincerely apologize to the public for causing concern."

Arriving at the confirmation hearing preparation office set up in Jongno-gu, Seoul, Kim made the remarks, adding, "I will make sure to explain the details thoroughly at the upcoming confirmation hearing."

When asked about the circumstances behind hiring the son of Senior Judge Jung, who is linked to allegations of lobbying for the approval of a COVID-19 treatment clinical trial, Kim responded, "I hired him as a legislative assistant through an open interview because I have nothing to hide."

"Legislative assistants are not official staff members, but rather assist with parliamentary duties," he explained. "To the best of my memory, he worked hard and went through a lot while receiving only about 1 million won a month."

He added, "If there were anything to hide, this data wouldn't all be public," and noted, "I understand he enlisted in the military after finishing the work."

Regarding allegations that he lobbied the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety over the clinical trial approval, Kim maintained his previous stance that he was merely forwarding a public interest grievance.

Kim argued, "Since a small company's procedures were being stalled due to pressure from a multinational corporation, the request was meant to find out why and to help resolve such unfairness."

He explained that the materials he checked at the time showed clinical trials were already underway overseas, and given that the ruling and opposition parties as well as the government were all striving to develop a treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, he judged it appropriate to forward the grievance.

"I forwarded it to the Minister of Food and Drug Safety just once and exchanged text messages once or twice at most," he said. "I judged that such a matter could be sufficiently conveyed as handling a grievance."

Kim did not answer questions regarding whether an official public notice was issued when hiring the legislative assistant or how he views additional recordings containing suspicions that he connected broker Yang and Judge Jung, and walked into the office.

Kim also expressed his resolve to focus on reform tasks if appointed as minister.

"Up to now, I have worked on various tasks such as media reform, prosecution reform, and the revision of the Commercial Act for the normalization of the capital market," he said. "With that mindset, if I become the Minister of Justice, I want to dedicate myself to reformative work for the people."

He further emphasized, "I will truly do my utmost to ensure that the new criminal justice system settles in smoothly without causing any inconvenience to the public."

Kim's parliamentary confirmation hearing is scheduled for the 15th.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.