[Anchor]

A confirmation hearing for Minister of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won has been underway at the National Assembly since this morning (September 15). Rival parties have clashed fiercely over various allegations surrounding the nominee, exchanging shouts and informal language.

Our first report comes from reporter Park Jae-yeon.

[Reporter]

Ruling and opposition members of the confirmation committee clashed right from the beginning of the hearing over a social cooperative headed by nominee Kim Seung-won's spouse.

The Democratic Party defended the nominee, arguing that allegations that Kim's family embezzled welfare budgets through the cooperative were untrue.

[Kim Nam-hee / Democratic Party Member: Why this cooperative was created! That is what parents gathered their intentions for and what is being told to the chairperson. Please listen.]

Ahead of the hearing, People Power Party lawmaker Joo Jin-woo released an audio recording, claiming it was a recording acknowledging preferential treatment from the Suwon City government toward the nominee's spouse. During an argument between the parties over this, Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Dong-a referred to the People Power Party as "devils," prompting an outburst of shouting.

[Joo Jin-woo / People Power Party Member: What did you just say?]

[Kim Dong-a / Democratic Party Member: I said devils.]

Nominee Kim choked up with tears while explaining the suspicions, and Judiciary Committee Chairperson Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party, who was watching, also shed tears.

[Kim Seung-won / Minister of Justice Nominee: My wife said that if she later becomes weak or passes away, she entrusted that work to our son so that there would be someone we could trust and leave these children with.]

The rival parties also remained at loggerheads over the "alleged solicitation for clinical trial approval," which independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon is aggressively pursuing.

[Kim Tae-gyu / People Power Party Member: Unlawful solicitation was made to the Minister of Food and Drug Safety for a toxic drug, and that poison was actually administered to 93 citizens.]

[Lee Sung-yung / Democratic Party Member: (Did lawmaker Han receive the materials) from the prosecution, or are they contents that were reported to him while he was serving as minister... (Isn't it one of the two?)]

As the Democratic Party counterattacks by questioning whether lawmaker Han received investigation materials from the prosecution, nominee Kim also joined the counteroffensive, stating, "The circumstances under which the prosecution's materials were leaked to lawmaker Han must be uncovered."

(Camera reporting: Oh Young-chun, Lee Seung-hwan, Shin Dong-hwan, Kim Yong-woo | Video editing: Jeon Min-gyu)