Bom Kim, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, clarified on the 3rd regarding the controversy over the United States government bonds holdings by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Choi Sang-mok, saying, "I did not acquire dollars newly to purchase U.S. government bonds."
On that day, Vice Minister Kim said during an urgent inquiry session held in the National Assembly, in response to a related inquiry from Democratic Party lawmaker Oh Gi-hyung, "Since 2018, I have continued to hold the dollars, and only the situation regarding the dollars and U.S. government bonds has changed."
He said, "If I had to buy dollars to purchase U.S. government bonds, there would have been a conflict of interest or such a situation," adding, "(U.S. government bonds) were purchased around mid-2024."
In response to the inquiry, "Is that dollar reported as assets?" Vice Minister Kim stated, "Public officials’ asset reporting is automatically required to be converted to Korean won for reporting."
Oh Dong-won, head of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, relatedly noted, "The investigation targets of the CIO are limited, but if there are parts that violate the law, we will investigate faithfully according to the law and principles."
According to the "2025 regular property change report of public officials," which was released by the Government Officials Ethics Committee on the 27th of last month, Deputy Prime Minister Choi reported holding 1.9712 billion won worth of 30-year maturity bond products. The opposition has raised suspicions regarding conflicts of interest and other issues regarding this.