Joo Jinwoo: "Kim Minseok Only Makes Excuses Without Submitting Records... I Have Receipts for All My Assets"

To Park Sunwon: "Do not blindly shield your own party members"
"My son's gift tax receipts are available, and everything is transparent"
"Kim Minseok earned 500 million won but spent 1.3 billion won... it makes no sense"

Joo Jinwoo, a member of the People Power Party, intensified his criticism of Park Sunwon, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea, and Kim Minseok, the nominee for Prime Minister. Regarding the allegations of gift tax evasion raised against him, Joo stated that he has paid all relevant taxes and possesses receipts as proof. He argued that these accusations are an attempt to attack him in a "circle-the-wagons" manner because he criticized Kim Minseok.

On June 18, Joo Jinwoo wrote on his Facebook page, "Park Sunwon of the Democratic Party is a member of the special parliamentary committee for the prime ministerial confirmation hearing. His role is not to blindly defend Kim Minseok simply because he belongs to the same party, but to thoroughly vet the nominee on behalf of the people. If he has no intention of doing this properly, he should step down immediately."

This was in response to Park Sunwon's Facebook post the previous day, in which he said, "Representative Joo, the standards of fairness and common sense should be applied to yourself first." Park claimed that Joo Jinwoo maintained debts despite having substantial liquid assets and that the repayment process was opaque. He also argued that Kim Minseok had transparently disclosed all his asset increases and fulfilled his legal and political responsibilities, while Joo's ridicule and attacks were inappropriate. Park urged Joo to explain the origins of his own assets first.

In response, Joo Jinwoo stated, "All of my son's assets were gifted in full by his elderly grandfather; the gift tax was paid in full, I have all the receipts, and the entire amount is in savings. The rest of my assets come from gifts and inheritances from both sides of the family, as well as my earnings as a lawyer. I have paid a total of 3.32 billion won in related taxes, and I clearly state that there is nothing problematic about this." He added, "Is it wrong for someone who has paid taxes properly and accumulated assets legitimately to scrutinize a prime ministerial nominee who spent 800 million won more than his income and cannot even provide documentation for it?"

Regarding Kim Minseok, Joo said, "Since 2020, Kim Minseok's only official income has been 500 million won in parliamentary salary, but during the same period, he spent at least 1.3 billion won. No ordinary citizen could do this. He vaguely claimed the funds were condolence money and lecture fees, but did not submit any supporting documents." Joo also pointed out, "He claims his ex-wife covered over 200 million won in tuition for their son, but has provided no evidence."

Joo further stated, "The Prime Minister is responsible for overseeing state affairs and cannot avoid public scrutiny. Yet, in an attempt to vet me as a member of the confirmation committee, they misrepresented already disclosed asset registration documents." He criticized, "Does one need to undergo a separate vetting process to become a member of Kim Minseok's confirmation committee?"