New reporting has added a previously undisclosed meeting to the final hours of Kim Seung-won's failed nomination as justice minister. According to reports cited by Maeil Shinmun, Kim met a former aide in Suwon at about 1:30 p.m. on September 18, one day before he withdrew. The former aide was described as one of the people behind a petition sent to the presidential office seeking to block Kim's appointment and was reported to have discussed the petition with him.
That meeting is relevant because Kim's office later said it had not been contacted by the presidential office about the petition and did not know whether the petition had been submitted. The newer account does not by itself show that Kim received confirmation from the presidential office. It does indicate, if the reported meeting is accurate, that he had direct contact with one of the petition's authors before resigning and was told about the allegations being raised.
A new detail in the resignation timeline
The petition itself contains allegations that remain disputed, including claims involving sexual-harassment handling, additional drunk driving, abusive language and other requests for favors. Kim's side has said claims in the petition are false, exaggerated or contain errors. Separate reporting says police are also considering whether to reopen an earlier case involving allegations of lobbying connected to approval of a COVID-19 drug clinical trial. None of those allegations should be treated as established simply because they appeared in a petition or prompted political demands for investigation.
Kim resigned on September 19, 20 days after being nominated. His withdrawal had already forced the government to restart the search for a justice minister and intensified scrutiny of its personnel-vetting process. The newly reported meeting changes the chronology around his final day as nominee by adding a direct encounter with a former aide who had raised concerns about his appointment. It does not resolve the truth of the underlying accusations.
Further reporting or official records could clarify when Kim learned that the petition had reached the presidential office, what was said during the September 18 meeting and whether any of the separate allegations lead to formal investigative action. Until then, the verified development is narrower: the resignation timeline now includes a meeting with a petition author before Kim stepped down, while Kim's denials of the allegations remain part of the record.