The Democratic Party of Korea on the 30th called opposition criticism that President Lee Jae-myung's nominee for Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Rep. Kim Seung-won, acted as a "Daejang-dong defense lawyer" a "false agitation." The party said that while the nominee once met with attorney Nam Uk, known as the real owner behind corruption in the Daejang-dong development, he never directly defended the Daejang-dong development scandal.
Kim Sung-hoe, the Democratic Party floor spokesperson, issued a statement titled "Representative Jang Dong-hyeok must immediately stop the false agitation against Minister of the Ministry of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won," saying, "What is the reason for repeating baseless claims without even minimal fact-checking?" and "Representative Jang Dong-hyeok must immediately stop groundless smears against the nominee and correct his remarks."
Kim, the floor spokesperson, cited as grounds that the claim of a "Daejang-dong defense lawyer" is false: ▲ at the request of a senior partner at a law firm in 2015, the nominee met once at the very beginning of the case related to an attorney surnamed Nam, and that was all; and ▲ this fact was also confirmed in media reports at the time in 2021. He then said, "It is highly irresponsible for the leader of the main opposition party, a former judge, to mislead the public with false agitation without verifying the facts."
Attorney Nam is the real owner of Cheonhwadongin No. 4, which participated in the Daejang-dong development project. He joined private operators in the Daejang-dong development and took massive dividends. In 2015, when Nam was indicted and detained on charges of violating the Attorney‑at‑Law Act, the nominee was listed among the first-instance defense counsel. Currently, President Lee is indicted as a defendant in a case related to corruption in the Daejang-dong development, and the point is that the nominee represented attorney Nam, not that he directly defended President Lee's case.
Afterward, as the investigation into alleged preferential treatment in the Daejang-dong development gathered pace, attorney Nam was tried on charges including breach of trust and bribery. In Oct. last year, the first-instance court said, "A corruption crime carried out according to a collusive relationship formed by brokering the provision of money and valuables over a long period," and sentenced all the defendants, including attorney Nam, to prison terms and took them into custody in court.