Rival political parties clashed during a parliamentary confirmation hearing for Constitutional Court President nominee Kim Sang-hwan, with the main opposition accusing him of political bias and real estate speculation.

At the special committee on personnel hearing Monday, the People Power Party(PPP) alleged that President Lee Jae Myung was returning a favor by nominating Kim, who was the presiding judge when the Supreme Court reversed and remanded Lee’s guilty verdict in a 2020 election law case.

PPP Rep. Suh Bum-soo said the nominee can be expected to save the president’s political life again should his pending cases be submitted to the Constitutional Court for adjudication in the future.

Ruling Democratic Party Rep. Park Jee-hye defended Kim, saying he is well known inside the judicial community to have led efforts to protect vulnerable members of society and that many consider it appropriate that he was named to head the Constitutional Court.

PPP Rep. Yoo Yeong-ha mentioned an apartment unit Kim owns that is currently valued at five-point-five billion won, or around four million U.S. dollars, saying while anyone can invest in a home with a deposit-based “jeonse” lease, the issue is that Kim selectively invested in areas where redevelopment was either set to begin or already underway.