Anchor: The opposition says President Moon Jae-in’s choice for prime minister could have been involved with a controversial hedge fund scandal that resulted in the suspension of one-point-six trillion won worth of redemption last year. At the confirmation hearing of Prime Minister nominee Kim Boo-kyum, lawmakers pressed him to explain why his daughter and son-in-law had a suspicious account with the now-defunct Lime Asset Management. 
Kim Bum-soo has more.  

Report: In one of the worst Ponzi schemes in the country's history, Korea’s once largest hedge fund Lime Asset collapsed last year, failing to return some one-point-six trillion won to its investors. 

The Lime scandal led to the arrest of key executives of the now-defunct company, as it sparked a line of suspicions that it had lobbied key politicians and officials to stay afloat.

On the second day of Prime Minister nominee Kim Boo-kyum's confirmation hearing on Friday, opposition lawmakers continued to press the veteran politician as well as other witnesses on why his daughter and son-in-law had enjoyed exceptionally attractive terms in a Lime hedge fund account.

[Sound bite: Prime Minister nominee Kim Boo-kyum (May 7 / Korean-English translation)]
"The subject of the economic activity in question here is my son-in-law. I think I am being framed as the discussion is phrased to focus on the family of nominee Kim's daughter.... " 
"If I evaded laws and took advantage of my power, how would I have been able to come this far? I believe that I was able to come this far as I upheld principles in my life."

The nominee’s son-in-law is an offspring to a conglomerate family. Along with the daughter’s family who put in a total of one-point-two billion won, only an arrested Lime Asset executive and a company affiliated with him had accounts in Lime’s 36-point-seven billion won Tethys-Eleven fund, which had no redemption fee or performance reward prescribed, according to an opposition lawmaker. 

Kim on Thursday told lawmakers that his daughter's family was a victim to the financial scam.

The nominee served as the Moon administration’s interior minister during his fourth legislative term in office. Widely regarded as a conciliator in the regionally divided Korean politics, Kim is often touted as a presidential contender.  

[Sound bite: Prime Minister nominee Kim Boo-kyum (May 7 / Korean-English translation)] 
(Rep.  Cho Su-jin: "Do you no longer have presidency in your mind?")  
"I think that this is my last public office, and not just that, I am physically getting old. As it has been just over 30 years since I entered politics, I'd enter the position with the mindset that this will be my last public service." 

President Moon’s nomination of Kim and five other Cabinet ministers came after voters chose main opposition People Power Party candidates for the mayors of Seoul and the nation’s second largest city of Busan in last month’s by-elections. 

Moon apparently sought to find new Cabinet ministers who can boost his approval ratings through the end of his term next May. But with nominees exposed to the suspicious eyes of the public, they are already off to a rough start. 

Appointing a prime minister requires consent by the National Assembly, which is currently dominated by the ruling Democratic Party. 
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.