President Lee shares past videos of Cho Kuk and Yoo Si-min, directly rebutting ‘criticism of prosecution reform’ - 경향신문

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President Lee Jae Myung enters the venue for the Civil Petitions Innovation Case Report Meeting held at the Sejong Convention Center in Sejong on the 2nd. Cheong Wa Dae photo press corps

On the 5th, President Lee Jae Myung said, “Prosecution reform is done for the people, not to create political legacies for certain individuals,” and added, “Under no circumstances should anyone, under the pretext of prosecution reform, try out of self-interest to sway personnel decisions or even specific investigation and indictment duties.” This is interpreted as remarks aimed at hardliners within the ruling camp who define nominee Kim Ji-yong, candidate to head the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, as a ‘pro-Yoon Suk Yeol, anti-prosecution-reform figure’. President Lee also directly rebutted writer Yoo Si-min, who criticized the government’s prosecution reform by saying, “The president deceived the people.”

That day on X, President Lee said, “In all public duties, including state affairs, the most important thing is to distinguish public matters from private matters and to discard self-interest,” thus making the point.

President Lee in particular rebutted writer Yoo Si-min, who had criticized the government’s prosecution reform. In a YouTube interview with <Media Today> last month, Yoo said, “President Lee said that dividing within the Ministry of Justice the prosecution that investigates from the prosecution that indicts is the maximum extent of prosecution reform,” and added, “I have never heard such a thing. The president has deceived the people up to now.”

That day, President Lee shared a video of his joint appearance with Yoo on the YouTube program <Alileo> in April last year. The video includes a scene in which, with Yoo listening, President Lee says, “Whether within the Ministry of Justice or elsewhere, the institutions in charge of investigation and those in charge of indictment must be separated.” This indirectly rebutted the statement by Yoo, “I have never heard such a thing.”

The video also includes a scene in which Cho Kuk, head of the Innovation Policy Research Institute of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, said in May 2024, “Separating the investigation and indictment functions of the prosecution is the beginning and the core of normalizing the prosecution.” This is taken as countering, with past remarks by Cho, Yoo’s statement that “the claim that the maximum of prosecution reform was to split the current prosecution office into two, with one dedicated only to indictment and the other only to investigation, is incorrect.”

Sharing the video, President Lee explained in the sense that the government’s prosecution reform has advanced further than what Cho advocated. President Lee stated, “Most proponents of prosecution reform, including the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, argued for placing, within the Ministry of Justice, a Serious Crimes Investigation Agency in charge of investigations and a Prosecution Office in charge of indictments, together with a claim to give the Prosecution Office the authority to request supplementary investigation,” and added, “However, this government went a step further by separating investigation and indictment into the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and the Prosecution Office while placing them under the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, respectively.”

In another X post, President Lee also shared a video titled ‘What did the president deceive about! Woo Sang-ho criticizes Yoo Si-min’. The video contains Governor Woo Sang-ho of Gangwon Province, who served as the first senior presidential secretary for political affairs in the Lee Jae Myung administration, rebutting internal criticism that “the presidential office dragged its feet on prosecution reform out of lukewarmness.”

Late the previous night as well, President Lee wrote on X, “Irresponsible extremists, so-called ‘Mugeuk faction,’ who agitate the public based on falsehoods or without even minimal grounds, are spreading like a fad,” and continued, “Whether on the left or right, at the front or rear, we must beware of irresponsible extremism everywhere.”

These remarks are seen as referring to hardliners within the broader ruling camp, such as Governor Choo Mi-ae of Gyeonggi Province and Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Yong-min, who oppose the appointment of Kim Ji-yong as head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency. As the request for a confirmation hearing for nominee Kim was sent to the National Assembly on the 2nd and voices of opposition within the ruling camp grew again ahead of the hearing, President Lee appears to have personally launched a public opinion campaign.

Early that morning, Governor Choo reiterated opposition to the appointment of Kim in a Facebook post, writing, “As a minister with many regrets, with a devastated heart I choose to leave the truth rather than a base silence.” Regarding the fact that prosecutors did not perform forensic analysis on the mobile phone of Han Dong-hoon, then a prosecutor, during investigation of the so-called ‘Channel A alleged collusion between the press and prosecutors’ case, she raised the issue of responsibility for nominee Kim, who at the time was head of the Criminal Affairs Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. This contradicted personnel vetting by the presidential office that concluded Kim could not have been involved in the forensic matter at the time. Governor Choo wrote, “At a time when I expected prosecution reform to finally crest the ridge, I never imagined that bullets would instead fly from behind and that a day would come when I would have to retrace all of this in excruciating detail. I was a fool,” and added, “The times are suspicious.”

Within the ruling camp, some voices say the nomination of Kim should be accepted. On MBC Radio that day, Democratic Party lawmaker Yang Bu-nam said, “Even if there are some shortcomings and we are not one hundred percent satisfied with nominee Kim, at least from the ruling party standpoint we should refrain from further criticism, respect the appointment authority of the president, and accept this for stable state administration.”

On the 3rd, Democratic Party lawmaker Park Ji-won wrote on Facebook, “Rep. Kim Yong-min, known as a so-called hardliner, also says, ‘I oppose, but I will respect the decision of the party,’” and added, “Convene a general caucus without delay, hold unlimited debate, and vote. I propose deciding the party line.”