Silence of Moon on 'Yoon's Job Exclusion'... "Neutral" vs "Living in Another World"

Choo Mi-ae Requests Disciplinary Action and Job Suspension for Yoon Seok-yeol... Unprecedented in Constitutional History

President Moon Jae-in is meeting Wang Yi, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister, at the Blue House on the afternoon of the 26th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] While the opposition party continues to criticize and repeatedly demand President Moon Jae-in’s stance on the suspension of Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol on the 26th, ruling party figures have stepped up to 'protect the president.'

Kim Jong-min, a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party of Korea, rebutted criticism of President Moon’s silence on the 26th by calling it "neutral."

On the same day, Kim appeared on MBC Radio’s 'Kim Jong-bae’s Focus' and said, "Why say the president is absent just because he is not stepping forward? Fundamentally, the president trusts the actions of the minister," emphasizing this point.

He added, "Our society tends to politicize every issue and rely on the president’s decisions. The law clearly states that the Minister of Justice is the one who directs the prosecution on behalf of the president. If the minister acts based on his own judgment, he is politically responsible for that judgment and decision," he stressed.

He continued, "If the president had opposed the disciplinary procedure against Prosecutor General Yoon, he would have politically directed the minister. The president trusts the minister’s procedural progress," he claimed.

He also pointed out, "The last problematic action by Prosecutor General Yoon was refusing a face-to-face inspection. The disciplinary action is something Yoon himself brought upon and chose," he noted.

On the 25th, when the unprecedented suspension of the Prosecutor General's duties took place, a heavy silence hung over the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Following the duty exclusion order by Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office immediately entered an acting duty system that day, and Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol did not come to work. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Park Joo-min, a member of the same party, also stated that "this decision is a natural measure" regarding Prosecutor General Yoon’s disciplinary action.

On the morning of the same day, Park said on CBS Radio’s 'Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show,' "If the various facts related to Prosecutor General Yoon that the Ministry of Justice is presenting are true, this is considered a very serious matter," expressing this view.

Regarding allegations of illegal surveillance of judges by Prosecutor General Yoon, he argued, "I looked up all the regulations mentioned by the prosecutor who conducted the sexual harassment investigation yesterday, and none of those regulations allow collecting data on trial judges’ private lives, family relations, or whether they are judges causing controversy," adding, "Therefore, it is not within the scope of duty."

He continued, "The Ministry of Justice issued an additional statement. The document written by the sexual harassment prosecutor states, 'Includes the list of judges causing controversy in the 2016 Administrative Office,'” and said, "It seems they wrote this after actually seeing the list, not just hearing rumors." He added, "This could also cause another serious criminal issue."

Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae is speaking at the 'Pro-Human Rights Security Measures and Introduction of Mandatory Compliance Litigation Party-Government Consultation' held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 26th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the other hand, members of the People Power Party are once again demanding President Moon’s statement on Minister Chu Mi-ae’s actions.

Kim Jong-in, the emergency committee chairman, sharply criticized at the emergency committee meeting on the same day, saying, "There is a very strong voice of criticism that state power institutions are being frustrated not by the rule of law but by the habitual abuse of authority by regime officials wearing armbands."

Joo Ho-young, the floor leader, also strongly opposed President Moon at the emergency committee meeting, saying, "He seems to live in a completely different world from us," and "There is not a single word about the unprecedented suspension of the Prosecutor General and the farce by Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae."

He described the current situation as a "dark tunnel of democracy" and "a meeting that confirmed non-communication and abnormality," emphasizing that "this is the emotional state most of the people are feeling."