Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon has alleged that Kim Seung-won, the nominee for justice minister, created a slush fund while leading the Democratic Party of Korea's Gyeonggi Province chapter by inflating staff salaries and collecting kickbacks.
Han raised the allegations Thursday on his Facebook page, directly naming Kim and asking whether, during Kim's tenure as chair of the Democratic Party's Gyeonggi chapter, the organization paid several party staffers an extra 2 million won ($1,460) per month on top of their regular salaries. He asked further whether those funds were then repeatedly transferred back into a bank account held by a specific staffer, rather than into the party's political fund account registered with the National Election Commission. Kim was elected chair of the Gyeonggi chapter in August 2024 for a two-year term.
Han also moved to raise questions about whether Kim had improper ties to the warrant judge who handled a separate case involving allegations that Kim sought to influence approval of a COVID-19 treatment clinical trial.
Han asked Kim directly whether the head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's planning and coordination division had personally visited the deputy chief of the Supreme Court's court administration office — carrying a private letter — to request that Seoul Western District Court warrant judge Jeong be recused from reviewing arrest warrants in that case, and whether the Supreme Court had rejected the request.
Han said the grounds for the recusal request were that photos showing Judge Jeong together with Kim and a person surnamed Yang had surfaced during the investigation, along with text messages in which Kim allegedly used Yang to lure Jeong to a drinking gathering — raising concerns that Jeong's close relationship with Kim and Yang made a fair warrant review unlikely.
Han then said that despite the recusal request, Judge Jeong had proceeded to review the warrants in the case and had rejected the arrest warrant for the owner of Genencell.
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