The Democratic Party of Korea will form a "front-line response team" to mount an all-out defense of Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won, who has become a target for rejection by opposition parties. Party leader Kim Min-seok called for a coordinated effort, saying the party needed to respond actively and asking the leadership to develop countermeasures.
Park Sung-joon, the party's chief spokesperson, told reporters on the 7th after a closed-door meeting of the Supreme Council that the party leader had said the party also needed to respond actively to negative attacks on the nominee. Kim Min-seok also said the nominee himself should respond quickly to allegations raised against him, according to Park.
Park said Rep. Cho Kye-won, as party spokesperson, was already responding actively, and that the Supreme Council had determined a response was needed for the confirmation hearing, bringing in Supreme Council members Han Min-soo and Jeon Yong-gi. He added that Rep. Kim Dong-ah of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee would work as part of a single team to handle the hearing. "Put simply, it is a front-line response team," Park said, describing it as a preparation team for Kim Seung-won's hearing that would actively counter negative campaigning.
The party leader made no particular mention at the meeting of Yong Hye-in, the nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, who has also become a target for rejection by opposition parties.
Park also announced the schedule for confirmation hearings, which begin in the middle of this month. Hearings are set for the 14th for Supreme Court justice nominee Kim Sung-soo; the 15th for Kim Seung-won, Lee Hyoung-il, nominee for deputy prime minister and finance minister, and Lee So-young, nominee for minister of SMEs and startups; the 16th for Defense Minister nominee Kang Shin-chul and Land Minister nominee Hong Ki-sun; and the 18th for special inspector nominee Choi Gil-soo. The hearing date for Yong Hye-in is still under negotiation between the ruling and opposition parties.
Separately, the party set up a standing special committee on housing welfare and named Rep. Kim Nam-keun as its chair. It also added Reps. Lee Jung-moon and Lee Ju-hee to a task force on strengthening media accountability, and named Rep. Kim Han-kyu to a task force on prosecution reform.
Asked how the party would respond to a possible troop deployment to the Strait of Hormuz, Park said the party leader's position was that it was not appropriate to anticipate and respond to an issue that had not been clearly raised.
