South Korea will hold confirmation hearings for five of the six ministerial nominees appointed last month by President Lee Jae Myung. The September 15 hearings cover Lee Hyoung-il, nominee for Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy; Kim Seung-won, nominee for Minister of Justice; and Lee So-young, nominee for Minister of SMEs and Startups. Hearings for Kang Shin-chul, nominee for Minister of National Defense, and Hong Jee-sun, nominee for Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, are set for September 16. Yong Hye-in’s hearing remains unscheduled because ruling and opposition parties disagree. Kim’s hearing is drawing the most attention over allegations involving requests to accelerate Genencell’s COVID-19 treatment clinical-trial approval, stock-price manipulation and preferential family labor costs. He received a suspended indictment (prosecution deferred despite acknowledged criminal suspicion) in December 2024 over an alleged promise to accept 5 million Korean won. Opposition lawmakers also question whether Kim could pursue cancellation of indictments against President Lee Jae Myung, a role Kim says the justice minister does not have and that he does not intend to direct the prosecutor general. Yong faces separate preferential-treatment allegations, including controversy over retaining her proportional-representative seat and her husband’s 123.66 million Korean won in salaries from the Basic Income Party. Real-estate allegations also involve Lee Hyoung-il, Kang, Hong and Lee So-young.