Joo Jinwoo Raises Suspicion over Supreme Court Nominee Kim Seongsu’s “Bargain Jeonse” in Gangnam Apartment

Calls on Nominee Kim to Clarify His Position
Urges President Lee to Withdraw Supreme Court Re-nomination Request

On September 2, Jinwoo Joo, a member of the People Power Party, raised suspicions of gift tax evasion, claiming that Supreme Court Justice nominee Kim Sungsoo had lived for an extended period in a Gangnam apartment at below-market cost through his brother-in-law. Assemblyman Joo called for nominee Kim to clarify his position and for President Lee Jaemyung to withdraw his request for Kim's re-nomination as a Supreme Court Justice.

As a member of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Assemblyman Joo held a press conference at the National Assembly’s Communication Center on this day, stating that nominee Kim has been living in a 43-pyeong apartment in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu by placing a deposit of 350 million won and has resided there for 15 years. According to Assemblyman Joo, the current lease price for an apartment of the same size is 1.95 billion won.

Assemblyman Joo claimed that nominee Kim’s brother-in-law rented the apartment at a high price and then re-leased it to nominee Kim for a deposit of 350 million won. Including a previous apartment in Yeoksam-dong, which nominee Kim had also occupied under similar circumstances, Joo explained that Kim lived for 15 years in residences either owned or leased by his brother-in-law, always paying the same deposit.

Jinwoo Joo, member of the People Power Party. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

However, during the Q&A session, Assemblyman Joo clarified that, in the case of the Dogok-dong apartment, nominee Kim paid about 800,000 won monthly in addition to the deposit, which functioned as monthly rent. Nonetheless, Joo added, “Compared to the standard monthly rent conversion price for apartments of this size, this is an absurdly low amount,” and stated that he had obtained copies of the related contracts.

Assemblyman Joo argued that this arrangement essentially amounted to receiving interest-free funds from his brother-in-law and thus is subject to gift tax. He claimed, “An analysis of the nominee's asset disclosure records revealed no evidence that any gift tax was actually paid,” raising suspicions of gift tax evasion amounting to several hundred million won.

In response to a question suggesting that there had been a period when nominee Kim lived together with his brother-in-law, Assemblyman Joo questioned the credibility of such an explanation, saying, “Can you believe that in a 43-pyeong apartment, a brother-in-law, who was a high-income CEO of a large corporation, lived together with the nominee?”

Assemblyman Joo also criticized the Supreme Court justice appointment process. Regarding the fact that, among the two nominated candidates, the appointment motion for nominee Kim was submitted to the National Assembly while another nominee, Son Bongki, was returned for re-nomination, he pointed out, “This is essentially shopping for Supreme Court justices.”

He continued, “In this case, the Supreme Court Chief Justice’s right to recommend nominees becomes meaningless, and the Constitution is effectively disregarded,” and demanded, “President Lee Jaemyung must stop shopping for Supreme Court justices and withdraw the request for re-nomination.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.