Parliamentary committee adopts confirmation hearing report for justice minister nominee

PPP lawmakers walked out of a plenary meeting of the parliamentary legislation and judiciary committee shortly after it began, protesting against the ruling Democratic Party's (DP) push to adopt the report without fully addressing allegations surrounding Kim.

"None of the allegations raised during the hearing have been resolved," PPP Rep. Park Hyeung-soo said before walking out of the session.

The DP argued that the nominee sufficiently explained himself during Tuesday's confirmation hearing, including claims that he illegally lobbied the food and drug safety ministry to speed up approval for a COVID-19 treatment in 2021 at a broker's request.

Kim, a two-term lawmaker, served as a judge at the Jeonju District Court and the Suwon District Court before joining the presidential office under the liberal Moon Jae-in administration, where he worked in the office of political affairs. He was elected to the 21st National Assembly in 2020 and later served as the DP's legal affairs committee chief. He also played a key role in passing the revision to the Criminal Procedure Act as a ranking member of the legislation committee.