Prime Minister nominee Kim Min-seok said on the 25th regarding the approximately 250 million won revenue from two previous book launch events, "To the public, this seems like a large amount of money, but viewed on average for book launch events, I think it may not be that excessive."
During the National Assembly's confirmation hearing that morning, Kim said, "I think the book launch event received a congratulatory fee of about 50,000 won per book sold at the event."
During the previous day's confirmation hearing, Kim explained the controversy over the fact that his expenditures exceeded his income as a member of the National Assembly, saying, "The money I received as condolence money is 160 million won, the money received from the two book launch events is 250 million won, and the money received from my in-laws is about 200 million won."
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Oh Gi-hyung asked that day, "From the nominee's perspective, to what extent should personal matters be discussed in the confirmation hearing?" Kim replied, "Ultimately, I believe I have disclosed everything I needed to, and I think I have been sufficiently transparent."
Furthermore, Kim stated, "It is clear to anyone that it is not possible to have accumulated 600 million won in a year based solely on the publicly available data, yet some individuals continue to frame this as 'the second 'Nondureong clock,' saying it is obvious and pointing it out repeatedly. While I am willing to prove endlessly what needs to be proven, at least acknowledgment is necessary for the matters that have been clarified."
Regarding the lack of disclosure of the revenue recorded from the book launch events, he said, "I could provide the data, but I could not ignore the responsibilities of political newcomers and, on the other hand, of the political realm as a whole. Political event organizing has been a practice, but there are concerns when both opposition lawmakers and representatives also held book launch events without reflecting this in their asset declarations. In this situation, I had no choice but to contemplate the principle of whether it is appropriate to disclose the full costs of the book launch events arbitrarily."
In response, People Power Party lawmaker Joo Jin-woo stated, "While it may be an established practice to hold book launch events, it is truly wrong for interest groups to come and contribute money in this manner."