Kim Mi-ae, the People Power Party Secretary, protests to Chairperson Park Joo-min and exits during the confirmation hearing for Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong held at the Health and Welfare Committee of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 18th./Courtesy of News1

The National Assembly's hearing on nominee Jeong Eun-kyung for Minister of Health and Welfare was suspended about 40 minutes after it began due to a conflict between the ruling and opposition parties over document submission.

The Health and Welfare Committee of the National Assembly held a plenary meeting at 10 a.m. on the 18th at the National Assembly in Yeouido to conduct the hearing for nominee Jeong, but immediately after the meeting began, there was a heated exchange between the ruling and opposition parties over the submission of the nominee's spouse's stock transaction records.

Kim Mi-ae, a member of the ruling People Power Party, raised concerns about the fact that only some of the securities firm's data related to transactions involving stocks amid the COVID-19 pandemic were submitted just before the hearing. She said, “There isn’t even a confirmation that there are no transaction records from other securities firms,” and complained, “It should have been submitted by yesterday afternoon for us to analyze; how can we do it when it's submitted right before? We need time.”

Rep. Lee Joo-young of the Reform Party also noted, “Our office requested stock transaction records related to COVID-19 and just received them moments ago,” adding, “We need time to review.”

However, the ruling party maintained its position that the demand for document submissions was an excessive political offensive and that the hearing should proceed as planned.

Rep. Lee Soo-jin, the Democratic Party of Korea's committee secretary, countered, “While demanding excessive documents under the pretext of verifying the nominee, they are misleading public opinion into thinking that the nominee has not submitted documents sincerely.” As the heated exchanges continued, Kim temporarily left the meeting room.

Chairman Park Joo-min said, “I will suspend the meeting to allow time to analyze the documents,” and added, “We will continue to request necessary documents even during the hearing.”

Ultimately, the hearing was suspended about 40 minutes after nominee Jeong's oath and opening statement.