People Power Party: “Refused all witness adoption due to poor submission of materials”
All five proposed witnesses, excluding family and ex-wife, were rejected.
Opposition: “Why hold a hearing under these circumstances?”
However, a boycott of the hearing seems unlikely.
The People Power Party has reiterated its demand for Prime Minister nominee Kim Min-seok, entangled in allegations of illegal political funds, to step down.
The party criticized that the agreement for a two-day hearing, reached in exchange for a promise of thorough material submission, was not kept, and that the Democratic Party refused to adopt even the five witnesses they requested. They also argued for extending the hearing to three days instead of two.
Bae Jun-young, the secretary of the People Power Party’s Special Committee on Kim’s hearing, stated on the 22nd, “There was a report that the prosecution began investigating Kim’s assets three days before the hearing,” adding, “He may be the first prime minister nominee to have suspect status in a prosecution investigation.”
Choi Soo-jin, a spokesperson, also said, “Even having one reason would disqualify others, but Kim has nearly ten reasons raised against him,” citing issues such as his master’s degree from China’s Tsinghua University, dubious sponsors, non-disclosure of 600 million won in cash, and illegal political funds.
The party strongly opposed the poor submission of materials by Kim’s side and the failure to adopt witnesses and references for the hearing.
Bae Jun-young added, “This is the first time a prime minister nominee has refused witnesses at a hearing,” explaining that they requested documentation on the nominee’s children’s study abroad funds, living expenses, dormitory fees, and international wire transfers but received replies citing the Personal Information Protection Act and the Public Hearing Act as reasons for refusing submission.
He further criticized, “We patiently narrowed down the witnesses to five debt-related individuals, excluding the family and ex-wife, but even these were rejected by the nominee and the Democratic Party. Why are we holding a hearing? It would be better for the nominee to take responsibility and step down.”
Representative Joo Jin-woo remarked, “It is unprecedented for Kim to admit receiving 600 million won in cash,” questioning, “How can state affairs be transparent if politicians receive money secretly?”
As a result, there was a call to extend the originally agreed two-day hearing by the Democratic Party to three days.
Previously, it was agreed between the ruling and opposition parties to hold a two-day hearing for Kim on the 24th and 25th of this month. The People Power Party announced the agreement based on the promise of thorough material submission.
However, as the documents were not adequately submitted, the party is now advocating for a three-day hearing.
Choi Soo-jin added, “The hearing schedule should be extended to three days to thoroughly verify Kim’s morality, policy competence, security views, past actions, and ideological tendencies,” urging Kim to submit the necessary documents and earnestly reveal all doubts or stop pretending to be the prime minister and step down.