Family union controversy explained... “When my wife becomes weak, my son is the person I can trust to take care of my disabled children.”

Family union controversy explained... “When my wife becomes weak, my son is the person I can trust to take care of my disabled children.”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Bal-eum and Choi Won-jeong = Justice Minister candidate Kim Seung-won shed tears on the 15th while explaining the controversy over preferential treatment for cooperatives for the developmentally disabled, where their spouses and children work.

At the confirmation hearing for the Minister of Justice candidate held at the National Assembly on this day, Candidate Kim refuted that there was no preferential treatment in the salary payment process, saying, "I did it so that my son (with developmental disabilities) could continue to take care of his children even when they turned 20 or 30, and I never did it to make money for profit."

He said, "I was also curious about why my son worked where his mother worked, and I recently heard that. My wife took care of the children with love, and if the children's parents passed away later, or if my wife became powerless or died later, she entrusted the job to my son as someone she could trust with the children." He also cried.

Candidate Kim emphasized, "As a father, I feel sorry, but my son came out of college and is currently studying for a master's degree in graduate school. I wish he would go to a better place, or even study and become a professor. However, I feel both sorry and proud that he has accepted his mother's wishes and is taking care of a child with developmental disabilities."

He continued, "My wife graduated from the Department of Special Education at Ewha Womans University, and while I was volunteering with developmentally disabled children in college, we fell in love together and even got married. When I was working as a lawyer, my wife had many injuries from being bitten, scratched, and pinched (by children). I think that's probably true of all people who teach children with developmental disabilities."

Addressing People Power Party lawmaker Joo Jin-woo, who raised suspicions about family unions, he said, "I hope you will keep in mind once again that Rep. Joo's words really hurt the families of people with developmental disabilities and their caregivers," and explained that the parents of the cooperative decide on the wife's salary and working conditions.

Previously, Rep. Joo raised suspicions that Candidate Kim's spouse and children received a salary worth 330 million won over four years from the Korea Child Development Social Cooperative, and that they also received preferential treatment in the process of being designated as an after-school activity service provider.