Judge Who Dismissed Arrest Warrant Had Son Work as Legislative Assistant in Rep. Kim Seung-won's Office

It has been confirmed through SBS reporting that the son of Presiding Judge Jeong, who dismissed the arrest warrant for the CEO of a new drug development company involved in the suspicion of lobbying the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety concerning nominee for Minister of Justice Kim Seung-won, subsequently worked at Kim's lawmaker office.

Controversy recently arose when a photograph from February 2022 was made public, showing nominee Kim, Presiding Judge Jeong, CEO Kang—the company representative linked to the lobbying allegations—and a broker surnamed Yang who connected Kim and Kang, taking a picture together.

Presiding Judge Jeong and nominee Kim are senior and junior alumni from the Seoul National University College of Law. They passed the judicial examination one year apart and worked together at the Jeonju District Court in 2002.

In December 2023, following the timing of the controversial photo, Presiding Judge Jeong dismissed the arrest warrant requested by prosecutors against CEO Kang on charges including attempted fraud.

However, it was confirmed that a few months later, in the first half of 2024, the judge's son, a university student named Jeong, worked as a legislative assistant in the office of then-Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Seung-won.

In response to inquiries from SBS regarding the matter, the preparation team for nominee Kim's confirmation hearing explained, "The son of Presiding Judge Jeong experienced working in the lawmaker's office as a legislative assistant, following standard procedures for lawmaker activities aimed at providing students with experience in parliamentary duties."

They added, "It was not a position paid a regular salary other than expense compensation," and stated, "It is clear that no causal relationship is recognized in the overall context between the dismissal of the warrant and the legislative assistant work, and claims suggesting it was a reward are unjustified."

However, with the revelation that Presiding Judge Jeong's son worked in nominee Kim's office in 2024, controversy is seen as inevitable over the fact that Kim's statement released on the 4th differs from the facts.

Regarding the photograph of nominee Kim and the other three individuals, the confirmation hearing preparation team stated on the 4th, "They merely happened to cross paths at a private gathering made public around February 2022, and have not met or contacted them since."

In response to SBS inquiries regarding the content of this "statement from the 4th" and the timing of Presiding Judge Jeong's son's employment, Kim's side explained, "The statement that they 'happened to meet by chance' was a misunderstanding caused by insufficient communication between the candidate and the preparation team due to personal circumstances, and there is no fact that [Kim] exchanged contacts or discussed specific cases with Presiding Judge Jeong."

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