Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, barred from taking part in the confirmation hearing for justice minister nominee Kim Seung-won, kept up a sharp offensive from outside the hearing room on the 15th. He fact-checked the nominee's answers in real time while also trading barbs with Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok, using the sidelines to keep himself in the spotlight.
Speaking to reporters after a National Assembly forum on election commission reform that day, Han said the public had "already reached its verdict on Kim Seung-won, the 'poison-drug lobbyist brother.'" He added that "the people's hearing has been conducted thoroughly over the past 15 days." "There are moments that become turning points in history," he said. "If nominee Kim, the poison-drug lobbyist brother, becomes justice minister, history will change." Han said that "the moment Kim becomes justice minister of the Lee Jae-myung government, that government will collapse," adding that Cho Kuk was also "pushed out within a month after being appointed anyway." "If this is a government that appoints someone like this, three years is far too long," he said.
Asked about Kim's description of him as "an enemy of democracy," Han said: "If being the first to raise the issue of the poison-drug lobbying by the brother, and disclosing that material, makes me an enemy of democracy, then I will be an enemy of democracy a hundred times, a thousand times over."
He also sparred with the party leader, who had criticized him by saying, "I thought he might be different from former President Yoon Suk-yeol, but as expected, they are half-brothers of the same bloodline." Han hit back hard, citing a past political funds case and a "room salon drinking session on the eve of the May 18 anniversary," asking, "Who held a knife and forced you to pocket 900 million won?"
"They say the NHK New Millennium room salon claim is false — what exactly is false?" he said. "Is he upset because he didn't get to enjoy himself? Is he claiming he was there but wasn't joining in? It's sordid." Han said there was "no honor left to damage for people who gathered at a place with female hostesses to drink and party on the eve of the May 18 anniversary," adding, "If the party leader can't bite, he shouldn't bark."
On Kim's recent references to former President Roh Moo-hyun, Han said: "You of all people should not be talking like that. Weren't you the one who persecuted President Roh the most?" He added that Kim "seems to be underestimating the public's memory."
Han also responded immediately on Facebook that day to the nominee's explanation that he "studied humanities and therefore could not have known about the drug's efficacy." "Does being a humanities major make it acceptable to lobby as a brother to get a poisonous drug approved?" he wrote. "Lobbying exactly as your younger sister the broker told you to is even worse."
On ruling party lawmakers pressing him over the source of the material he disclosed, Han asked, "I am in the National Assembly right now. Instead of talking behind my back like cowards, why not call me in?" He added, "I have never revealed who the whistleblower is, and I never will."
