Kim Seung-won, nominee for Minister of Justice, said on his way to his confirmation hearing preparation office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, at around 8 a.m. today (the 11th), "As a politician, I sincerely apologize for causing concern to the public."

When asked about the circumstances behind hiring the son of Senior Judge Jeong, who appeared in allegations regarding lobbying for the approval of a COVID-19 treatment clinical trial, as a legislative assistant in his lawmaker office, Nominee Kim replied, "Because I have nothing to hide, I openly hired him to work as a legislative assistant through an interview."

He also explained, "A legislative assistant is not a regular employee, but someone who assists with National Assembly duties," adding, "As I recall, he worked hard and went through a lot while receiving only about 1 million won a month."

"If I had anything to hide, this is all public data," he added, noting, "As I understand it, he went to the military after finishing his work."

Regarding suspicions of lobbying the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety related to clinical trial approval, he maintained his previous stance that he was merely delivering a public-interest civil petition.

Nominee Kim argued, "It was delivered with the intent to find out why procedures were not proceeding due to pressure from a multinational corporation on a small company, and to resolve such unfairness."

Nominee Kim did not answer questions about whether he posted an official recruitment notice when hiring the legislative assistant or how he views additional audio recordings containing suspicions that he connected broker Yang and Senior Judge Jeong, and entered the office.

Nominee Kim's National Assembly confirmation hearing is scheduled for the 15th.
 
(Photo: Yonhap News)