'A case Yoon and Han's prosecutors already picked apart'
Party distances itself from Yong Hye-in controversy
The Democratic Party of Korea said Monday it has formed a dedicated team to counter attacks on Kim Seung-won, the nominee for minister of justice, who is embroiled in allegations that he lobbied for approval of a new drug's clinical trial.
Park Seong-jun, the Democratic Party's chief spokesperson, told reporters after a closed-door supreme council meeting that "the party needs to actively respond to the negative campaign against nominee Kim." The team comprises Supreme Council members Han Min-su and Jeon Yong-gi, along with Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Dong-a, who sits on the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
Park said the supreme council had called on Kim to respond swiftly to the allegations on a personal level, and that the nominee's own preparation team would play a role in that effort. "You can think of it as a dedicated response team being set up on the party's side to counter the negative attacks," he said.
The Democratic Party went on the offensive against independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, who has been leading scrutiny of the nominee, accusing him of engaging in what it called "prosecutor's cabinet politics." Kim Eui-gyeom, a Democratic Party lawmaker who leads his party's side on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, said in an MBC Radio interview that prosecutors under the Yoon Suk Yeol government and then-Justice Minister Han had already "gone through this case with a fine-tooth comb." "Could there be any more rigorous vetting than what Han Dong-hoon's people already carried out?" he said, adding that the case had effectively been pre-vetted by Han's circle.
Democratic Party lawmaker Park Ji-won, also a member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, said 15 prosecutors under Yoon and Han had investigated Kim for three years. "If there were any wrongdoing, they would have indicted him — not given him a suspended indictment," Park said. "We need to know why a suspended indictment was issued, and where Rep. Han obtained those recordings."
The party appeared to distance itself from controversy surrounding Yong Hye-in, the nominee for minister of gender equality and family, over her simultaneous service as a proportional representation lawmaker and questions about her so-called "family party." Lee Su-jin, a Democratic Party lawmaker who leads her party's side on the Gender Equality and Family Committee, said on KBS Radio that a confirmation hearing should be scheduled quickly to allow scrutiny of the nominee's convictions. She added, however, that "it must meet the public's expectations, and given that it is a position requiring high moral standards and political accountability, there are quite a few allegations piling up."
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