Did Kim Hyun-ji Intervene in Appointments? Presidential Chief Rebuts: "Done According to System"

[Anchor]

Presidential Chief of Staff Lim Gwang-hyun apologized to the public regarding the successive fallouts of ministerial nominees under the Lee Jae-myung administration. Regarding suspicions that Kim Hyun-ji, head of the First Personal Office, intervened in personnel appointments, Lim denied the claims, stating that appointments are handled through a system.

Reporter Kim Bo-mi reports.

[Reporter]

From the very start, People Power Party lawmakers criticized the proceedings as a "shielding audit," asserting that the Democratic Party had derailed the selection of key witnesses.

[Choi Eun-seok / People Power Party Lawmaker: They blocked Kim Yong-beom. They blocked Kim Hyun-ji. They blocked Jeong Jin-sang. After blocking all these key witnesses one after another, who on earth are we supposed to question, and about what?...]

Chief of Staff Lim Gwang-hyun, making his parliamentary audit debut on his 16th day in office, initially struck a humble tone regarding the personnel issues.

[Lim Gwang-hyun / Presidential Chief of Staff: Five ministerial nominees have fallen through so far, and I feel deeply apologetic to the public.]

However, he denied suspicions of personnel meddling by the so-called "Gyeonggi-Seongnam line," including Kim Hyun-ji, head of the First Personal Office, maintaining that appointments are made according to the system.

[Kim Min-jeon / People Power Party Lawmaker: Evidence continues to emerge that Director Kim Hyun-ji was involved in personnel appointments.]

[Lim Gwang-hyun / Presidential Chief of Staff: Appointments are being carried out systematically under the responsibility of the chief of staff, who chairs the personnel committee. Moving forward, by further strengthening vetting and related processes...]

The session, which continued amid heated partisan clashes, was disrupted when People Power Party Lawmaker Kim Tae-gyu, who stirred controversy over remarks denying an insurrection, entered the committee room.

[Seo Mi-hwa / Democratic Party Lawmaker: How can someone who does not recognize those who staged an insurrection even be a member of the National Assembly? Please have him leave immediately.]

[Kim Tae-gyu / People Power Party Lawmaker: It is difficult for me to speak definitively regarding an apology. I am not the subject of the agency being audited here today.]

[Lee Joo-hee / Democratic Party Lawmaker: Apologize first! Chair, please cut his microphone!]

A resolution urging the expulsion of Lawmaker Kim Tae-gyu has already been passed by the National Assembly's House Steering Committee, while the People Power Party claimed that the Democratic Party was merely finding fault to let the audit of the presidential office fizzle out without substance.

(Video by Lee Seung-hwan and Shin Dong-hwan | Video Editing by Park Seon-soo)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.