Choo Mi-ae: "'There Were Blue House Supporters for Son Joon-sung's Appointment, and the Party Also Assisted'"

'Appointment of Son Junsung' Raises Ministerial Responsibility, Claims of "Lobbying Occurred"

Former Minister of Justice and Democratic Party presidential candidate Choo Mi-ae./Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Former Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae claimed that there was "lobbying by Yoon Seok-yeol and protective forces from the Democratic Party and the Blue House" regarding the retention of Son Jun-sung, former Policy Officer of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Investigation Information Policy Division (currently Human Rights Protection Officer at Daegu High Prosecutors' Office), who is mentioned as a key figure in the 'Yoon Seok-yeol prosecution accusation scandal.'

On the 14th, during the 8th presidential primary TV debate hosted by MBC's '100-Minute Debate,' former Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yeon asked, "Why did you appoint former Policy Officer Son to that position while you were minister?" to which former Minister Chu responded accordingly.

Former Minister Chu explained, "There was lobbying insisting on his retention in that position, and when I looked into it at the time, I realized it was because of the judge surveillance documents. Now I see that they were plotting something tremendous."

She continued, "Along with Yoon Seok-yeol's lobbying, there were people in the (Democratic) Party who protected him. There were also people inside the Blue House," and pointed out, "(When this candidate was party leader) didn't he create such an atmosphere?"

In response, former leader Lee retorted again, "If you found a problematic person like Son Jun-sung, you should have taken personnel action immediately. If you unknowingly placed a problematic person in such an important position, then afterwards, under the minister's responsibility, personnel action should have been taken or he should have been removed from that position. How can you blame the party leader for that? Isn't it the minister's duty to protect?"

Former Minister Chu countered, "I protected him until the end," and added, "Now, saying that I could have taken personnel action against Son Jun-sung, who is part of Yoon Seok-yeol's faction, but didn't, is the same logic as saying Son is part of Chu Mi-ae's faction."

During the continued debate, Representative Park Yong-jin asked former Minister Chu, "In the Moon Jae-in administration, the Candlelight Government, who requested personnel favors for prosecutors from the Blue House and the Democratic Party against the Minister of Justice? You need to tell us who it was," to which former Minister Chu avoided a specific answer, saying, "The core issue is the national disgrace incident committed by Yoon Seok-yeol's group, but if I speak now, the problem will shift to personnel controversies. The issue will go to an irrelevant place."

Nevertheless, former Minister Chu emphasized, "(Last year) there was a (prosecutor) personnel reshuffle, and there was strong lobbying. But I am the recommender for personnel, not the appointing authority. I did everything I could as the recommender until the last moment."

She added, "Until then, the party probably did not know that Yoon Seok-yeol's group was committing national disgrace. However, as a former party leader turned Minister of Justice, I conducted inspections on (former Prosecutor General) Yoon, filed disciplinary requests, and pressed the reform pedal, but the party stopped that pedal, saying 'the minister is making noise,'" repeatedly holding former leader Lee accountable.

When Representative Park said, "It is absurd that personnel requests happened within our government," former Minister Chu replied, "Do you understand how hard it was for me? I almost burst into tears."