Prime Minister candidate Kim Min-seok refuted the allegation on the 24th that he 'stayed in China for only 4 days' during his process of obtaining a master's degree in law from Tsinghua University, saying, 'I stayed a total of 148 days.'
Kim Hee-jung, a member of the People Power Party, noted during a National Assembly confirmation hearing that she verified the departure and arrival times of the flight in question based on the record submitted by the candidate to airline and airport officials, saying, 'On May 29, 2007, and July 13, 2007, he submitted a flight number that does not exist. Are you aware of this?'
She added, 'The candidate claimed he was on a plane at the time, but articles and photographs show that he was at the election counting situation room (for the by-election). So, with so many errors, why are you not providing official documents?'
Kim noted, 'At that time, the highest-ranking committee meetings were held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and classes were conducted on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, he has never taken an international flight on those days.' She continued, 'When marking the days he could attend classes in China, only 4 days came out. Even considering he took a nonexistent flight, he was only in China for 26 days.'
In response, Kim stated, 'Contrary to what you calculated, I stayed for 148 days,' adding, 'To be honest, what we provided in Excel was my travel record related to flights to China.'
He also mentioned, 'In fact, I pulled out the entire travel record, but it was a pile of data that was impossible to understand,' and added, 'It was almost impossible to verify, so I only provided the information related to China.'
Kim said, 'If you request my records from the last 20 to 30 years, that would be an excessive demand, similar to what I mentioned earlier regarding previous prime ministers.'
On the same day, in response to Kim's inquiry regarding the national debt ratio, the candidate gave an incorrect answer, saying, 'I believe it's around 20 to 30%,' and faced criticism.
Kim noted, 'The national debt ratio is 48.4%, and if a supplementary budget is prepared, it could exceed that,' adding, 'To determine whether to distribute money, one must know the national debt ratio.'
She added, 'Furthermore, this year's budget proposal is 673 trillion won,' emphasizing, 'To lead the recovery of the people's economy, it is necessary to understand the scale of the national finances. It seems like they do not have a grasp on the overall economy of the country while not managing their own property.'