People Power Party: "Lee Seong-yoon Must Be Suspended from Duty... Need to Restore Rule of Law"

Lee Seong-yoon, chief prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, who has been indicted on charges of abuse of authority, is arriving by car at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 13th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Geum Bo-ryeong] The People Power Party has argued that it is necessary to restore the rule of law by suspending Lee Seong-yoon, the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, from his duties.

Kim Ye-ryeong, spokesperson for the People Power Party, stated in a commentary on the 15th, "I hope Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye does not forget that his duty is to suspend Prosecutor Lee from his duties and bring him to the judgment of the law to restore the rule of law."

Minister Park ordered the Supreme Prosecutors' Office yesterday to conduct a fact-finding investigation into the suspicion of the leak of Prosecutor Lee's indictment. Prosecutor Lee has been indicted on charges of obstructing the investigation by the Anyang branch office related to the illegal travel ban case of former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui.

Spokesperson Kim criticized, "When Minister Park was an opposition lawmaker, he raised his voice saying 'the public has the right to know and the investigation status should be disclosed,' but now it seems he does not hesitate to deny himself to protect Prosecutor Lee," and added, "It is hard to dismiss the suspicion that he hurriedly ordered a fact-finding investigation after evidence emerged that key figures of the administration such as former Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Cho Kuk, former Minister of Justice Park Sang-ki, and Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Lee Kwang-cheol were involved in exerting pressure on the investigation."

Kim also pointed out, "It was none other than Minister Park who inserted the 'reporting to the public' clause allowing the Park Young-soo special prosecutor team to announce investigation status daily under the name of media briefings during the investigation of the Choi Soon-sil political scandal," and added, "In February 2017, he proudly appeared on a radio broadcast claiming that he was the one who inserted that clause and boasted, 'It is the right attitude and proper method to naturally inform the public.'"

Furthermore, spokesperson Kim criticized, "The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Korea, which covers up various suspicions and corruption by 'protecting defendant Lee Seong-yoon,' has already lost its function as a Ministry of Justice to cover up power-type corruption under the current administration," and said, "Minister Park's recent order is nothing but an attempt to exert another pressure on the investigation under the pretext that the indictment was illegally leaked. Minister Park must uphold at least a minimum sense of responsibility and conscience as the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Korea."