Kim Seung-won Tears Up During Family Discussion, Seo Young-kyo Chokes Up Too; PPP Asks, 'Are You Going Through Menopause?'

The confirmation hearing for nominee for Minister of Justice Kim Seung-won at the National Assembly today (the 15th) sparked a clash between the ruling and opposition parties after Kim shed tears while explaining suspicions regarding his family.

While addressing criticism that it was a "family cooperative" because his son works at the Korea Child Development Social Cooperative run by his spouse, Nominee Kim choked up twice and struggled to continue.

Regarding his wife, he stated, "Parents make all decisions regarding salary and working conditions. There are no returns for my wife." Regarding his son, he said, "Seeing him accept his mother's intentions and work to care for children with developmental disabilities is both heart-wrenching and admirable," adding, "It was definitely not done as a money-making scheme for profit."

After finishing his remarks, he wiped his tears with a handkerchief.

Ruling party lawmakers sent words of encouragement and applause in response to Kim's tearful explanation.

In particular, Chairperson of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is in the same party as Nominee Kim, was seen wiping tears from the corners of her eyes with her hand while listening to Kim's remarks.

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Ji-won also shared a video of Nominee Kim shedding tears on Facebook, saying, "I could not do as Nominee Kim did," before mentioning People Power Party lawmaker Joo Jin-woo, who has raised suspicions regarding Kim's family, and asking, "Would Representative Joo be able to do so?"

During the afternoon session, Lawmaker Park also urged Kim, saying, "It is admirable by anyone's standards for your wife and son to stand on the side of the vulnerable and provide services," and adding, "Even if you become minister, I hope you will give a lot of support if your wife and son do good work for community service."

On the other hand, the People Power Party raised doubts about the sincerity of Nominee Kim's tears.

Lawmakers Kim Min-jeon and Kim Tae-gyu showed a cold reaction, bursting into hollow laughter when Nominee Kim appeared to choke up.

Lawmaker Kim Min-jeon wrote "crocodile tears" on Facebook and pointed out during the afternoon questioning, "The transcript notes that Kim told Mr. Yang, 'I feel like crying,' and seeing him tear up in his opening remarks, I thought, 'This gentleman consistently has a lot of tears.'"

Lawmaker Kim Tae-gyu also questioned Nominee Kim, asking, "It became a sea of tears in the morning, are you going through menopause?" and noted, "If someone at the level of a nominee for Minister of Justice sheds tears over something like that, ordinary citizens and common people would have to live wailing aloud every day."

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hun posted on Facebook regarding suspicions of solicitation for clinical trial approval of a new drug, sharing a past transcript where Nominee Kim told broker Mr. Yang, "I miss you so much that tears are coming from my eyes," and asked, "Which tears are real? Are they the tears from February 2022 when 'tears came to your eyes because you missed room salon broker Mr. Yang,' or today's tears?"

Nominee Kim stated regarding the reason he shed tears, "I also thought of my childhood," and added, "If it made you uncomfortable, I apologize."

However, as questioning regarding his family continued, he turned up the heat against People Power Party lawmaker Joo, saying, "Let your son work at the development center just once."

This was his retort after Lawmaker Joo repeatedly raised suspicions that the cooperative run by his spouse received preferential treatment from Suwon City when it was selected as a target for government voucher projects.

Nominee Kim stated, "Bring your son and let him last for one week or two weeks," adding, "Once you experience how hard the work is, you wouldn't be able to question it like this."

Meanwhile, the ruling and opposition parties also clashed over the fact that today's hearing proceeded without any witnesses or reference persons.

Park Hyung-su, the People Power Party's secretary, criticized, "The Democratic Party is planning a hearing without a single witness, attempting to hold a shoddy hearing where the nominee does not submit materials," and added, "We said about 10 witnesses, including Mr. Yang (the broker involved in the new drug solicitation suspicions), were needed, but not a single one was adopted."

In response, Democratic Party secretary Kim Eui-kyeom rebutted, "(The solicitation suspicions) were thoroughly vetted by the prosecution over two years mobilizing 11 prosecutors," adding, "Since it has gone through a prosecution hearing 100 times or 1,000 times harsher than a National Assembly hearing, using witness adoption for political offensive is too wasteful."

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