On the 14th, the People Power Party raised various allegations surrounding Prime Minister nominee Kim Min-seok and called for his voluntary resignation. Nominee Kim explicitly denied the allegations surrounding him, including personal debt and 'daddy's chance,' stating they were not true.
People Power Party spokesperson Ho Jun-seok claimed in a statement that "Nominee Kim has two previous convictions for receiving illegal political funds totaling over 100 million won," and added, "It has been alleged that he received unlawful funds once more by disguising it as a loan from an acquaintance who provided black money in that incident."
The acquaintance has been identified as someone who served as co-chair of the athletic committee in the election campaign for nominee Lee Jae-myung.
Spokesperson Ho raised additional concerns regarding nominee Kim's son's legislative activities during high school and overseas internship experience. He pointed out that Kim's son interned for seven months at the University of Hong Kong during his senior year and co-authored work with a professor, stressing that it is "not common sense" that there was no leave of absence for overseas internships while attending high school.
Additionally, regarding a plagiarism prevention bill drafted by the son, which was actually introduced in the National Assembly with nominee Kim listed as a co-proposer, it was emphasized that "it is difficult to avoid criticism that he attempted to utilize legislation for his child's college admission."
Spokesperson Ho noted, "These allegations remind one of 'Cho Kuk's daddy chance,' but there is also a point that the responsibility of nominee Kim, who was a member of the National Assembly, is greater than that of Cho Kuk, who was a professor."
The process by which nominee Kim obtained his master's degree in law from Tsinghua University in July 2010 was also put under scrutiny.
People Power Party's nominee for floor leader Song Eon-seok released a statement, saying, "The master's program in law at Tsinghua University is a regular program that requires actual attendance at the school for completion. Nominee Kim was also active as a supreme council member of the Democratic Party during the same period and ran for the Busan mayoral election. It is impossible to complete a course while existing in two places simultaneously. He should transparently disclose immigration records and details of his stay in China."
Regarding these allegations, nominee Kim explained the previous day through Facebook that he took out a loan and repaid all his personal debts. He stated that there was no fact of utilizing his son's legislative activities in college admission applications and added that he listed his name as a co-proposer of the plagiarism prevention bill because he believed it was a necessary bill.