Ruling and Opposition Parties Remain Evenly Split on Kim Seung-won's Fitness Despite Full Attendance at Hearing

As the confirmation hearing for Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won took place Friday at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the ruling and opposition parties delivered sharply contrasting assessments of his fitness for the post. When asked by reporters immediately after the hearing whether there was any reason for the nominee's candidacy to collapse, Kim Ui-gyeom, the committee secretary for the ruling Democratic Party, said, "No," adding, "Nothing new has come to light; it's all stuff that has already been reported." Asked whether the nominee had sufficiently demonstrated his qualifications, he also answered, "Yes."

Park Hyung-soo, the committee secretary for the main opposition People Power Party, said, "The nominee has failed to properly address various suspicions while staging a 'melodrama' over matters involving his family," and stated that adopting the confirmation hearing report would be impossible.

During the hearing, the two parties clashed over suspicions that the nominee sought favors in prescribing psychotropic drugs and that his family received preferential treatment from a social cooperative they work with. The hearing is set to resume Friday night, and whether the confirmation report gets adopted is expected to become a key point of contention amid the parties' disagreement.