Kim Moon-soo "Ancestors' Nationality During Japanese Colonial Era Was Japanese"… Opposition Walkout Causes Hearing Disruption

26th Employment Minister Confirmation Hearing
Criticism from Opposition Continues Over Past Remarks

Kim Moon-soo, the nominee for Minister of Employment and Labor, stated during the confirmation hearing on the 26th that the nationality of ancestors during the Japanese colonial period was Japanese, and he viewed the founding date of the Republic of Korea as 1948. Opposition lawmakers protested this historical perspective and eventually left the hearing, which ended as a result.

Kim Moon-soo, nominee for Minister of Employment and Labor, speaks at the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 26th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

At the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee confirmation hearing that day, Kim said, "The country was lost during the Japanese colonial period, so what nationality could there be?" and added, "Since the country was taken away, naturally our ancestors' nationality was Japanese." When the opposition pointed out that the preamble of the Constitution states that the Republic of Korea inherits the legal continuity of the provisional government established in 1919, he explained, "The provisional government is just a provisional government," and "It is not the official government of the Republic of Korea."

Earlier, Park Hong-bae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, pointed out that in 2018, Kim had made a strange remark regarding President Moon Jae-in, saying that the founding date was not August 15, 1948, but 1919. Kim continued to argue with Park, retorting, "Was the nationality Korean during the Japanese colonial period?" and "We should talk common sense; we should not say things that don't make sense."

Opposition lawmakers protested Kim's remarks as denying the preamble of the Constitution. They also said that continuing the hearing was meaningless due to Kim's answers and left the session. As a result, the hearing was disrupted.

Throughout the hearing, debates between the ruling and opposition parties and Kim's statements continued all day regarding his past remarks. Regarding his comment that the Sewol ferry memorial was a "death ritual," Kim refused to apologize, saying, "It's been over 10 years; should the memorial continue indefinitely?" About the Jeju 4.3 Incident, he said it was "a riot that denies the founding of the Republic of Korea itself," adding, "It was clearly a riot by the South Korean Workers' Party."

Regarding the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye, he said, "The impeachment was wrong and will be historically reevaluated." He also explained, "If she (former President Park) is imprisoned for bribery, then I am also guilty of bribery," adding, "She neither knew about the bribes nor was she someone who would accept them." In the morning, when asked by the opposition whether he was willing to resign, Kim firmly stated, "No."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.