Opposition parties have opened a full-scale vetting drive against six ministerial nominees in the Lee Jae-myung administration ahead of their parliamentary confirmation hearings. They have raised a string of allegations, from claims that Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won lobbied the drug safety regulator to questions over property deals by Gender Equality and Family Minister nominee Yong Hye-in. In Yong's case, concerns about the suitability of the appointment have also surfaced within the ruling party.
The People Power Party on the 2nd focused on allegations that Kim contacted the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in the past regarding a specific pharmaceutical company's clinical trial, according to political sources on the 3rd. Kim, then a first-term lawmaker, is said to have contacted Kim Ganglip, who headed the drug safety ministry at the time, in 2021 at the request of a broker surnamed Yang, asking him to look into a pharmaceutical company's clinical trial of a COVID-19 treatment. Prosecutors investigated Kim on charges of promising to accept a bribe for mediation and suspended the indictment in December 2024.
The controversy reignited when a text message Kim sent to Seo Young-kyo, chair of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, was made public the previous day. In the message, Kim said the core argument of his constitutional appeal was that "even the court denied any quid pro quo, yet prosecutors issued a suspended indictment," and added that he was "sorry."
The PPP pressed for answers on why Kim contacted the drug safety chief, the approval process for the clinical trial, and any link to an attempted delivery of political donations. Choi Eun-suk, the party's chief floor spokesperson, said the previous day that "a suspended indictment is neither a finding of no charges nor an acquittal," adding that "for a matter of this scale, he should have declined the ministerial post himself or been screened out at the presidential office's vetting stage." Choi called on the nominee to step aside.
Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon also released text messages related to the lobbying allegations and pressed Kim, asking whether he had sent a message soliciting help to win approval for the COVID-19 treatment trial.
Yong has come under fire over a property transaction and allegations involving her family. According to PPP lawmaker Joo Jin-woo, Yong bought a multi-unit home in Sa-dong, Sangnok District, Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, for 245 million won in April 2021 and sold it for 265 million won in March 2022, 11 months later. Joo said Yong sold the home to a Chinese buyer for a gain of 20 million won, and criticized her, saying she had "called for an end to unearned income from real estate while engaging in quick-turnaround trading herself."
Accounting reports of the Basic Income Party also showed that Yong's husband, Park Ki-hong, head of the party's strategic planning division, received about 3 million won a month. Opposition parties attacked the arrangement, calling it "not the Basic Income Party but the Family Income Party." Over a separate controversy involving Yong's use of a VIP lounge at Gimpo International Airport during a family trip in March 2023, a conservative civic group filed a complaint with police accusing her of abuse of authority.
Yong said the previous day, as she reported for her first day at the office set up to prepare for her confirmation hearing, that she would explain the allegations at the hearing. Asked whether she would give up her proportional representation seat, she said she would "organize my thoughts during the hearing process and speak to the public," adding that she was "listening to the many worries and concerns."
Negative assessments of Yong's nomination also emerged from the ruling bloc. Democratic Party lawmaker Song Young-gil said on radio the previous day that "there are doubts about what appeal this person really has to people in their 20s and 30s," noting it "will not be easy for public sentiment to accept." A female DP lawmaker also said Yong "appears to be serving as a human shield in this reshuffle," asking whether it was "not an example showing that the gender equality ministry does not have a large role in the current administration."
Opposition attacks on the remaining nominees continued. The PPP said Hong Ji-seon, nominee for Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, had designed the Lee administration's basic housing model and pushed an approach in which the state supplies homes and the public leases them long term, signaling that it would scrutinize her policy record.
Regarding Kim Sung-soo, nominee for Supreme Court justice, Joo raised allegations of preferential treatment over a jeonse lease on an apartment in Gangnam. Joo argued that Kim may have received financial favors in the process of living since 2021 in Dogok Rexle, an apartment complex in Dogok-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul, worth up to 1.9 billion won on the market, on a lease deposit of 350 million won.
The rival parties agreed the previous day, through talks between the secretaries of the relevant standing committees, to hold the hearing for Lee So-young, nominee for Minister of SMEs and Startups, on the 15th, and Hong's hearing on the 16th. The DP plans to complete confirmation procedures for all six ministerial nominees before the Chuseok holiday.
The hearing for Lee Hyung-il, nominee for deputy prime minister and minister of finance and economy, is likely to be held on the 16th, with Kim's hearing on the 18th. Hearing dates for Yong and Kang Shin-chul, nominee for Minister of National Defense, are being coordinated for sometime between the 14th and the 18th.
