On the 20th, Joo Jin-woo, a member of the People Power Party from the personnel hearing special committee for Prime Minister nominee Kim Min-seok, urged the nominee to quickly disclose his income from a book launch event, noting that Kim's external lecture fees over the past five years amounted to only 8 million won.
On the same day, Joo noted on his Facebook that "Over the past five years, the total of external lectures reported by Kim to the National Assembly secretariat was 26 times, amounting to 8 million won," while also disclosing the related details.
He said, "The first time candidate Kim Min-seok mentioned the book launch event was on June 19," adding, "Until then, he only stated that there were 'other incomes such as condolence money and lecture fees.'"
He continued, "Now we only need to know the amount of cash sales from the book launch event," and added, "I requested the number of books published and returns from the hearing preparation team. There is no reason to delay. Please submit it immediately."
According to the People Power Party, since Kim's election as a member of the National Assembly in 2020, his officially reported income has reached approximately 520 million won, including an official salary of about 510 million won and business income and other income of about 14.2 million won.
During the same period, expenditures totaled approximately 1.1 billion won, including 620 million won in fines, 230 million won in credit and cash expenses, 200 million won in donations, and 50 million won in monthly rent, excluding his son's tuition. There are claims that unclear income amounts to at least 600 million won.
In response, the nominee has stated that wedding gifts and condolence money from his father-in-law as well as two book launch events are sources of income besides his official salary. He said, "There were joyful events, a wedding, funerals, and two book launch events during that period."