Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok and Rep. Song Young-gil launched a direct attack on independent Rep. Han Dong-hoon, who has been raising allegations day after day that justice minister nominee Kim Seung-won solicited approval for a new drug clinical trial. Both men characterized Han's release of recordings and investigation files as a bid to raise his own profile, sharpening their criticism.
Speaking on the 8th on "Minti07," a program on the party's official YouTube channel Democratic Party TV, Kim took aim at Han, calling him "an immature attention-seeker who shoots himself in the foot while trying to draw attention by any means necessary." Song said Han "seems unable to shed his identity as a special prosecutor, and being isolated, he is thrashing about trying to create a sense of presence."
Song raised particular doubts about how Han obtained the investigation files. "How on earth did he get hold of material like that," he said. "If he is claiming he received it while serving as justice minister, then he is committing criminal acts, starting with violations of the Personal Information Protection Act and extending to the offense of divulging facts under investigation." He added: "Watching him release transcripts bit by bit like that, he would be far better off quitting the National Assembly and going to Gasayeon with Kim Sae-ui and Kang Yong-seok to collect super chats."
He also challenged the credibility of the recordings themselves. "How can anyone know whether a recording is objective in an age of AI like today?" Song asked. "When he was justice minister and his subordinates held power, why couldn't he put Kim Seung-won behind bars?" He continued: "They investigated him inside and out and still came up empty, so they suspended the indictment. Is it fitting conduct for a National Assembly member to gather the material from that and edit it and release it?"
Meanwhile, Kim denied a report that he had relayed negative sentiment within the party over gender equality and family minister nominee Yong Hye-in to the presidential office. "There was a false report saying specifically that I said such things to the president at Seoul Airport," he said. "It is not true that I conveyed such a message at that airport."
He did acknowledge that various views on Yong were circulating inside and outside the party. "Everyone knows there are opinions of one kind or another inside and outside the party, and I could put those together and pass them along," Kim said, while drawing a line: "In any case, it is not true that I conveyed such a message at that airport." He added: "The reporter was not even there, so I think this kind of thing is an excessive work of fantasy fiction."
He also kept his distance on relations with the Rebuilding Korea Party. Cho Kuk, head of the party's Innovation Policy Institute, had put forward an official apology for attacks from some quarters of the Democratic Party as a basic condition for merger talks. "I don't really know what he is talking about," Kim said. "Right now a merger is not a given — we could merge, or we could form an alliance."
Song said, "This is not the time to be saying things like that." He added: "We need to be fighting on matters such as the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de, and if you speak at the wrong time and place, your words are bound to be interpreted differently from what you intended."
