The abrupt withdrawal of Kim Seung-won as nominee for justice minister is creating simultaneous burdens for the Lee Jae-myung administration and the ruling Democratic Party. The presidential office now faces questions over its vetting process and the task of finding a new justice minister, while the Democratic Party's leader, Kim Min-seok, is under scrutiny for having publicly defended the nominee. The opposition is widening its offensive by focusing on how a petition containing additional allegations reached the presidential office.
Opposition Presses After Withdrawal as Petition Draws Scrutiny
According to political sources on the 21st, Kim withdrew on the 19th, one day after President Lee Jae-myung said at a Sept. 18 news conference that he had "not yet reached a conclusion" on whether to appoint him. The presidential office said it understood the decision as the nominee's own choice to reduce the burden on state affairs. But controversy over the background grew after claims emerged that a petition from former aides containing additional allegations had been delivered to the presidential office shortly before the withdrawal.
The petition reportedly included allegations of sexual harassment at a past drinking gathering and an attempt to cover it up, as well as additional drunk driving and verbal abuse of aides. A dispute has broken out over when the ruling bloc became aware of the allegations, following claims that the petition was delivered to the presidential office on the 17th, the day the Democratic Party unilaterally adopted the confirmation hearing report.
The opposition has framed the withdrawal as a failure of personnel vetting, pressuring both the presidential office and the Democratic Party. The People Power Party demanded disclosure of whether the petition was received, how it was delivered, and when the presidential office and the Democratic Party shared it. Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon also targeted the allegations, arguing that "if the Democratic Party knew and still tried to push this through, that makes them accomplices."
At a National Assembly news conference on the 20th, Han said he had "already confirmed that a considerable part" of the petition's contents was true, directing his criticism at party leader Kim Min-seok. Noting that Kim had described the nominee as "a better choice the more you look at it," Han said, "Never mind talking about Han Dong-hoon — talk about Kim Seung-won," and then asked, "Is he still 'a better choice the more you look at it'?"
The withdrawal has also put the presidential office's vetting system back under examination. With another minister nominee stepping aside just after the president signaled at his news conference that he would review the personnel system, calls are growing to overhaul the entire process, from recommendation and vetting through political judgment after confirmation hearings.
Ruling Party Leadership Shaken as Kim Turns to Constitutional Reform
The Democratic Party is also finding it difficult to escape the fallout. Kim Min-seok publicly defended the nominee while the opposition kept up its attacks, and the party unilaterally adopted the confirmation hearing report at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the 17th. With the nominee ultimately withdrawing, criticism is emerging both inside and outside the ruling bloc that the leadership's judgment was out of step with public sentiment.
Kim's earlier assessment that the appointment looked better the more one examined it has become a particular political liability as Han pressed his attack. After the withdrawal, the Democratic Party pushed back by questioning how Han obtained the prosecution documents he disclosed. But with the nominee gone, it will not be easy to head off internal calls for accountability over the party's handling of the nomination.
Rather than hold a news conference marking one month in office, Kim used the day to launch a constitutional reform task force in an attempt to shift the focus. The Democratic Party proposed enshrining the spirit of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement and the Bu-Ma Democratic Protests in the constitution's preamble, restructuring the distribution of power and the political system, and strengthening social basic rights, with a plan to produce a bipartisan agreement by the first half of next year.
Still, some say the constitutional debate has limits as a way to paper over the internal tasks Kim must address immediately. The ruling bloc remains divided over merger and cooperation with the Rebuilding Korea Party as well as prosecution reform and personnel matters, while the party simultaneously faces the challenge of consolidating its base and expanding into the political center.
Falling support for the party adds to the pressure. Contrary to the goal Kim set on taking office — a 10 percentage point rise in party support within 100 days — recent party support surveys have shown the Democratic Party's ratings declining, compounding the leadership controversy triggered by the nominee's withdrawal.
Justice Minister and Investigation Chief Picks Both Stalled
The presidential office's difficulties do not end with finding a new justice minister. With the abolition of the Prosecution Service and the launch of a new public prosecution agency and the Major Crimes Investigation Agency just over 10 days away, the justice minister's post has been vacant for nearly a month, and Kim Ji-yong, the nominee to head the investigation agency, is undergoing additional vetting amid resistance from hardliners in the ruling bloc.
The ministry must now find a new minister. The next minister will need legal expertise and a reformist record to handle a pile of tasks — launching the public prosecution agency after the Prosecution Service is abolished, reorganizing the ministry's structure and subordinate regulations, transferring prosecution cases and redeploying staff — as well as the ethical standing and political capability to clear a National Assembly confirmation hearing.
The investigation agency appointment also remains uncertain. Kim Ji-yong is facing pushback from Democratic Party hardliners over his background as a former prosecutor. The presidential office has delayed submitting a confirmation hearing request to the National Assembly citing additional vetting, pushing back any appointment. The agency can still launch on Oct. 2, its statutory start date, but the possibility of operating without a first chief can no longer be ruled out.
If both appointments remain tangled, a gap in the chain of command could emerge from the earliest days of the new criminal justice system. Because the head of the public prosecution agency must be nominated by the justice minister, a delay in filling the ministerial post could also affect that procedure.
In the end, Kim Seung-won's withdrawal has grown beyond the loss of a single minister nominee into an issue shaking the Lee administration's personnel vetting, the ruling party leadership's ability to respond, and preparations for the launch of the new criminal justice system all at once. The presidential office must resolve both the justice minister and investigation agency appointments, while Kim Min-seok must steer the regular parliamentary session and the constitutional reform push amid questions over the party's handling of the nominee.
