Kim Sung-soo, 57, the first Supreme Court justice nominee put forward under President Lee Jae-myung's administration, said on the 14th that he was sorry for causing concern before his confirmation hearing even began.
Speaking in opening remarks at his National Assembly confirmation hearing, the nominee said he had reviewed his entire life while preparing for the hearing and would use the experience as an occasion to examine his conduct and words from an objective perspective and to exercise greater caution.
Kim has faced allegations that he avoided paying gift tax by living long-term in an apartment in Dogok-dong, Gangnam district, Seoul, owned by his brother-in-law, under a so-called sub-lease arrangement priced below market rates. According to Rep. Joo Jin-woo of the People Power Party, Kim lived under a jeonse (a Korean lease system requiring a large lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent) contract in a 25-pyeong unit at Yeoksam e-Pyunhansesang in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam, from February 2011 before moving in June 2021 to a 43-pyeong unit at Dogok Rexle in Dogok-dong. In that process, the brother-in-law signed a jeonse contract worth about 1.5 billion won and then sub-leased the unit to Kim for a deposit of 350 million won, with Kim agreeing to pay 800,000 won a month as rent. He did not make those payments from the November 2023 installment through the August 2026 installment.
Asked by Rep. Chae Hyun-il of the Democratic Party of Korea to explain his position on the gift tax controversy, Kim said he was sorry. He added that he had recently consulted a tax accountant to review whether the arrangement was subject to gift tax and that payment procedures were under way during the morning for the portion found to be taxable.
Explaining how he came to live with his brother-in-law in 2021, Kim said the company where his brother-in-law worked, then located in Pangyo, had been planning to move its headquarters near Yeoksam-dong, where his family lived. He said his mother-in-law suggested to the brother-in-law that the apartment was too small for them to live together and proposed leasing a somewhat larger apartment to share with his sister's family. He said his spouse, his brother-in-law and his mother-in-law discussed the matter, sold the Yeoksam-dong apartment and moved in together.
Kim said Korean society is changing rapidly and that the judiciary, which must protect citizens' rights, should not fall behind that change. He said he would contribute what he could so that the judiciary can move in step with the times by closely reading changes in the era.
Kim said he would examine cases with a mind of impartiality, guided only by the Constitution, the law and his conscience as a judge. He said he looks in the mirror each time before entering the courtroom to steady himself, and that, mindful of how the outcome of every case affects the parties involved, society and the nation, he recites two phrases: one meaning to be careful, always careful, and another meaning to put oneself in another's position, in the sense of listening and communicating while considering the perspectives not only of litigants, defendants and lawyers but also of victims.
Citing his two years as head professor at the Judicial Research and Training Institute beginning in 2023, Kim said training for judges needs to be strengthened to improve their professional capabilities and to make clear what the public expects of them. Stronger judicial training, he said, would also respond in part to the demands of the times for swift and fair trials.
Asked about the most memorable case of his career as a judge, Kim pointed to a retrial he accepted long after the fact, involving farmers who had received farmland under land reform following liberation from Japanese colonial rule, were convicted in criminal trials that followed coercive investigations and lost their land through proceedings based on those convictions. He also cited a case in which he imposed a heavier sentence than the lower court on a defendant even though the victim's bereaved family had reached a settlement, in a case where the victim had been confined by the defendant and died after suffering from hunger and cold. Kim said he had sought through such rulings to make clear that the role and duty entrusted to the courts is to guarantee the constitutional freedoms and rights of all citizens, including marginalized neighbors who find it difficult to speak for themselves.
Kim said he would continue to observe the code of judicial ethics and faithfully carry out his duties with an attitude of serving the public.
Kim was born in Hampyeong, Jeollanam-do, and graduated from Inseong High School in Gwangju and the law department of Hanyang University. He began his career as a judge at Gwangju District Court in 1998 and went on to serve at the Haenam branch of Gwangju District Court, Seoul High Court, as an ethics and audit officer at the National Court Administration, as a presiding judge at Jeju District Court, as a senior presiding judge at Cheongju District Court and as head professor at the Judicial Research and Training Institute.
Meanwhile, People Power Party lawmakers renewed their demand at the hearing for the adoption of witnesses and expert witnesses to examine the tax evasion allegations. They requested supplementary submissions, saying some materials had not been provided because Kim's side did not consent to the release of personal information. Rep. Joo Jin-woo of the People Power Party said the hearing had continued to record zero witnesses and expert witnesses, calling it discourteous to the public and a disgrace to the National Assembly.
