Prime Minister Kim Min-seok on the 9th, referring to recent court rulings involving first lady Kim Keon-hee and former lawmaker Kim Young-sun, said it is "hard to understand in terms of the public's common sense or legal sentiment."
At a National Assembly interpellation session that day, when Park Jeong of the Democratic Party of Korea asked, "While charges related to first lady Kim Keon-hee and former lawmaker Kim Young-sun's nomination solicitation were found not guilty, an ordinary person becomes a thief for eating a Choco Pie and is even fired for embezzling a bus fare. Can the public accept this?" Kim replied accordingly.
When Park went on to say that "the government must also take seriously the reality of a judiciary in decline," Kim said, "Public trust in the judiciary is the foundation of democratic republicanism."
When Park also asked for the government's position on alleged collusion between religion and politics surrounding religious groups such as the Unification Church and Shincheonji, Kim said, "Religious intervention in politics or de facto bribery and buying of influence disguised as religion can be seen as crimes masquerading as religion," adding, "They must be eradicated."