Democratic Party to Transition Team Delaying Ministry of Justice Report: "We Will Not Stand By as Prosecutorial Reform Fades"

Minjoo Criticizes Transition Team's 'Postponement of Ministry of Justice Briefing' as "Forcing Surrender"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] The Democratic Party of Korea criticized on the 24th that the Presidential Transition Committee's postponement of the Ministry of Justice's work report was "pressure and coercion for the Ministry of Justice to surrender to the new government."

Earlier, the Political, Judicial, and Administrative Subcommittee of the Presidential Transition Committee held a press conference on the same day, criticizing Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye for publicly opposing President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol's judicial reform pledge the day before, and announced the postponement of the Ministry of Justice's work report scheduled for the morning.

Spokesperson Shin Hyun-young said in a briefing that "after positioning close prosecutors in the transition committee, they clearly showed a firm intention to nullify prosecutorial reform by refusing the Ministry of Justice's work report." He added, "The public demanded the creation of control devices to monitor and check the unchecked power of the prosecution, and the Moon Jae-in administration and the Democratic Party sought to realize this through prosecutorial reform. However, it is deplorable to turn back the clock and make the people's aspiration for prosecutorial reform go up in smoke."

Spokesperson Shin said, "The Democratic Party will never stand by and let prosecutorial reform fade away," and "Based on the 172 seats, we will strictly separate the prosecution's right to indict and investigative authority to prevent the prosecution's unjust abuse of power." He also said, "They dismissed the report on prosecutorial reform and the adjustment of investigative authority between the prosecution and police as 'meaningless' to the extent that it does not even need to be heard," adding, "If this is an attitude to govern unilaterally with arrogance and stubbornness even before starting the term, it is very concerning."