Confirmation Report on Justice Minister Nominee Kim Seung-won Adopted Unilaterally; Committee Meetings Canceled in Retaliation

[Anchor]

The parliamentary confirmation report for Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won, who is engulfed in several allegations including solicitations to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, has been adopted under the leadership of the Democratic Party. The People Power Party halted the adoption of reports for nominees of two other ministries by canceling meetings of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee and the Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee, where its lawmakers serve as committee chairs.

Kim Kwan-jin reports on today (September 18)'s top story.

[Reporter]

Yesterday (September 17) morning, a plenary meeting of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

When Committee Chair Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party tabled the agenda to adopt the confirmation report on Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won, the People Power Party questioned whether the move was an attempt to rush the process before President Lee Jae-myung's press conference without prior agreement, and the Democratic Party pushed back, calling it absurd.

[Seo Young-kyo / Chair of National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee (Democratic Party Lawmaker) : "Do you want to go in and take a lie detector test together?"]

[Kwak Kyu-taek / People Power Party Lawmaker : "Let's do it, then."]

[Seo Young-kyo / Chair of National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee (Democratic Party Lawmaker) : "Let's do it."]

[Kwak Kyu-taek / People Power Party Lawmaker : "Go ahead, do it."]

[Seo Young-kyo / Chair of National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee (Democratic Party Lawmaker) : "You are talking nonsense!"]

[Kwak Kyu-taek / People Power Party Lawmaker : "It's all lies!"]

The Democratic Party claimed that the People Power Party was being obstinate even though no illegalities or flaws were found during the confirmation hearing.

[Kim Eui-kyeom / Democratic Party Lawmaker : "I believe the public will also understand that this is a situation where reaching a compromise is difficult."]

The People Power Party argued that the ruling bloc is pushing through the appointment process to dismiss charges in President Lee's trials.

[Yoon Sang-hyun / People Power Party Lawmaker : "Why did the Yoon Suk Yeol administration collapse? The Democratic Party has no choice but to follow the exact same historical footsteps."]

After People Power Party lawmakers walked out just 12 minutes into the meeting, only lawmakers aligned with the ruling bloc remained to adopt the confirmation report.

The People Power Party retaliated by canceling plenary meetings of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee and the Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee, where its members serve as standing committee chairs.

Discussions on adopting confirmation reports for Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister nominee Hong Ji-seon and SMEs and Startups Minister nominee Lee So-young in the two committees were halted.

Meanwhile, the Economy and Finance Planning Committee, chaired by a Democratic Party lawmaker, adopted the confirmation report for Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister nominee Lee Hyoung-il, with the ruling party expressing a suitable opinion and the opposition party expressing an unsuitable opinion.

Amid this, Yang Soo-jin, who is suspected of asking nominee Kim Seung-won to make requests to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, appeared on a YouTube broadcast yesterday and claimed the following:

[Yang Soo-jin (YouTube channel 'Korea Independent Media Network') : "To be honest, I feel guilty toward Lawmaker Kim (Seung-won). When asking for a favor, I felt sorry to just ask outright, so I said, 'Please at least make a donation.'"]

Controversy continues as it was belatedly revealed that nominee Kim had in fact represented a case handled by the judicial panel including a Judge Jeong, who had previously dismissed an arrest warrant for a key figure in the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety solicitation allegations, despite having testified at his confirmation hearing that he had never taken on such a case as a lawyer.

(Video by Oh Young-choon, Shin Dong-hwan, Kim Yong-woo | Video edited by Jeon Min-gyu | Graphics by Kang Yoon-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.