Yoon Seok-yeol: "Accusation of Soliciting Prosecution? A Frame by the Ruling Party That Has Constantly Conducted Political Manipulation"
Yoon Han-hong, the secretary of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the People Power Party, attended the plenary session held on the 6th at the National Assembly for urgent questioning regarding the 'allegation of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol's involvement in instigating prosecution.' Before the meeting began, he demanded the attendance of Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@
[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] On the 6th, the ruling and opposition parties exchanged heated arguments at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee over the 'report solicitation' allegations against Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate and former Prosecutor General. The ruling party called it a 'national disgrace' incident and urged a thorough investigation, while the opposition countered that it was a 'political attack.'
The Legislation and Judiciary Committee held a plenary session that day to conduct a current affairs inquiry related to the allegations of report solicitation involving former Prosecutor General Yoon. Park Beom-gye, Minister of Justice, attended the session, while Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo did not attend, citing political neutrality and fairness.
Ruling party lawmakers raised critical voices regarding the allegations against former Prosecutor General Yoon. Kim Young-bae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated, "This cannot be seen as anything other than a national disgrace incident that shakes the foundation of a democratic republic," and insisted, "We must verify the facts to see if the prosecution actually engaged in such acts."
Additionally, So Byung-chul, a Democratic Party lawmaker and former prosecutor, said, "There have been criticisms in the past that the prosecution conducted politically biased investigations, but this is the first time there has been an allegation of planning to initiate an incident like this," pointing out, "The case of Yoon Seok-yeol's use of the prosecution to intervene in the general election and the attempt to influence the election through the prosecution is accurate."
On the other hand, the People Power Party rebutted that the allegations against former Prosecutor General Yoon are themselves unreliable. Yoon Han-hong, a People Power Party lawmaker, said, "The Minister of Justice, who is not even the party involved, is here with absurd news like a rumor," and protested, "Calling a political minister and conducting a political attack is all this amounts to."
Jang Je-won, a member of the same party and head of Yoon Seok-yeol's campaign situation room, said, "Words like solicitation, conspiracy, and commission are specialties of the Moon Jae-in administration, aren't they?" and added, "Is this selective current affairs inquiry based on a shabby article?"
Earlier, the internet media outlet 'Newsbus' reported allegations that when Yoon was Prosecutor General, Son Jun-sung, the Investigation Information Policy Officer at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, delivered a complaint containing the names of Yoo Si-min, chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, and Choi Kang-wook and Hwang Hee-seok, then proportional representation candidates of the Open Democratic Party, to Kim Woong, a National Assembly candidate from the People Power Party (then the United Future Party). As the controversy spread, Prosecutor General Kim ordered the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Department to conduct a fact-finding investigation.
However, former Prosecutor General Yoon maintains that the allegations are a 'political conspiracy.' After meeting with Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, at the National Assembly that day, Yoon told reporters, "During my time as Prosecutor General, isolating the Prosecutor General and having some political prosecutors communicate with the ruling party to handle investigation cases itself was a political conspiracy," adding, "Since those who have been doing this regularly are creating this frame again, the public will not stand idly by."
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