Kim Seung-won Defends Hiring Judge's Son, but Former Aide Says It Was Not an "Open Interview"

[Anchor]

We previously reported that Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won hired the son of Judge Jung, who dismissed the arrest warrant for the founder of a pharmaceutical startup at the center of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety solicitation suspicions, as a legislative assistant. Nominee Kim stated that he has "nothing to hide" and hired him through an "open interview," but the explanation from the official who handled the hiring at the time tells a different story.

Today's first report comes from reporter Shin Yong-il.

[Reporter]

Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won arrives at the confirmation hearing preparation office.

Regarding the exclusive SBS report that he hired the son of Judge Jung—the judge in charge of warrants who dismissed the arrest warrant in December 2023 for Genencell founder Kang Se-chan—as a legislative assistant in his lawmaker's office, Kim stated that he has nothing to be ashamed of.

[Kim Seung-won / Justice Minister Nominee: Because there is nothing to hide, I assigned him the role of legislative assistant through an open interview.]

His point is that there was no so-called "father's chance" favoritism, claiming that the hiring process—where Judge Jung's son began working at Kim's lawmaker office in June 2024—was conducted openly.

However, an official who handled hiring at the lawmaker's office at the time gave a different answer to SBS reporting staff.

[Former Aide at Lawmaker Kim Seung-won's Office: The lawmaker or the aides make some recommendations. Then we ask to see a resume.]

The official explained that instead of posting a separate job notice and selecting from general applicants when hiring legislative assistants, the entire process simply consisted of receiving a recommended resume and holding a brief interview-like meeting between the hiring aide and the candidate.

Regarding this, the official noted that it was difficult to consider it an "open interview" as mentioned by nominee Kim.

[Former Aide at Lawmaker Kim Seung-won's Office: It wasn't the kind of open interview gathered from dozens of people like they do at ordinary companies.]

However, this official also explained that while Jung was working as a legislative assistant, no special favors were provided, and he is remembered as having worked diligently.

Nominee Kim's side stated through an additional official statement that legislative assistant Jung worked three days a week as agreed in advance to assist with office duties, and that they only paid about 1 million won per month in actual expenses, adding that no excessive economic benefits were provided.

(Camera Take: Yang Hyun-chul | Video Editing: Kim Ho-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.