'No intention of giving Han a stage at the hearing ... unrelated to PPP party line'

Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom of the Democratic Party of Korea, who serves as the ruling party's lead negotiator on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, speaks during a procedural motion at the committee's plenary session at the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom of the Democratic Party of Korea, who serves as the ruling party's lead negotiator on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, speaks during a procedural motion at the committee's plenary session at the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom of the Democratic Party of Korea serves as the ruling party's lead negotiator on the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee. He said Friday that the source of recordings released by independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon goes beyond what could have been legally obtained. Han had raised allegations that Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won solicited favors related to a new drug. "Who leaked it will now come to light," Kim said.

Appearing on YTN Radio, Kim said, "The document is titled a case-handling plan, and it was sent from the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office three times." He added, "Its contents are information that only about five or six people could have known, including the leadership of the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office."

Then Kim said, "It was not submitted to the court, and it never reached a lawyer's hands — only about five or six people could have known about it." He continued, "Of those, the number of people who could have leaked it externally is narrowed down to about two or three. That clearly points to offenses such as leaking official secrets or disclosing facts about a criminal suspect."

"To extract this content, one would have had no choice but to access the server where the records are stored. Since access logs are all preserved there, it will become clear who accessed it," Kim said, adding, "No matter how much Rep. Han tries to protect the source, it will be narrowed down to a few people. If that happens, I believe it will become clear who leaked it."

With the witness and reference-witness list for Kim Seung-won's confirmation hearing scrapped, Kim Eui-kyeom shrugged off the possibility of calling Han as a hearing committee member or witness. "Isn't what Rep. Han is saying really about showing up at the hearing to assert his presence and turn it into a kind of mudslinging match?" Kim said. "I have no intention of setting the stage for Rep. Han."

He went on to say, "Not even the word 'Han' has come up from the People Power Party," and added, "It is only individual lawmakers such as PPP Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun who have said such things, and as far as I know, it is unrelated to the PPP's party line or the leadership's position."


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