Parliamentary committee adopts confirmation hearing report for justice minister nominee

On Thursday, a parliamentary committee approved a report on the confirmation hearing for Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won, despite opposition from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP). The opposition lawmakers walked out of the plenary meeting, expressing dissatisfaction with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) for pushing to adopt the report without fully addressing the allegations against Kim.

The PPP representative, Park Hyeung-soo, stated, "None of the allegations raised during the hearing have been resolved." The DPK countered that the nominee had sufficiently clarified his position during the Tuesday confirmation hearing, including his alleged illegal lobbying of the food and drug safety ministry to expedite approval for a COVID-19 treatment in 2021 at the request of a broker.

Kim, a two-term lawmaker, previously served as a judge at the Jeonju District Court and the Suwon District Court before joining the Moon Jae-in administration's presidential office, where he held a position in the office of political affairs. He was subsequently elected to the legislative body.