Kwon Seong-dong: "President-elect Yoon took the knife from candidate Han Dong-hoon and gave him a pen"
Yoo In-tae: "It is intended to provoke the Democratic Party's forced passage of the inspection reform law considering the local elections"
On the 13th, Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, and members of the Judiciary Committee held an emergency press briefing at the National Assembly in Yeouido regarding the Democratic Party's ongoing push for 'Geomsu Wanbak' (complete removal of prosecutorial investigation rights). Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@
[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, introduced on the 14th that President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol had already decided on Han Dong-hoon as Minister of Justice from the early stages of the transition committee's launch. He explained that this was not a countermeasure in response to the Democratic Party's confirmation of the forced passage of the 'Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights (Geomsu Wanbak)'.
On the same day, Kwon introduced on KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs' regarding the timing of Han's appointment, "From the president-elect's side, I heard that around the time the transition committee was being formed and ministerial appointments were beginning, it was already said that the Minister of Justice would be Han Dong-hoon."
He said, "The reason seems to be that since Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon exercising investigative rights would lead to various claims from the Democratic Party about political retaliation or political oppression, it was judged that the purity of the prosecution's investigation could be compromised." He added, "Also, the Democratic Party said that sending him as the head of departments directly conducting investigations, such as the Seoul Chief Prosecutor or Prosecutor General, was not acceptable. So, considering such claims from the Democratic Party and to prevent new controversies, in fact, they took away the sword and gave the pen."
Kwon said, "The Minister of Justice is in charge of legal administration, and President-elect Yoon believes that the Minister of Justice should not exercise the prosecution's investigative command authority, effectively making it impossible to exercise such authority," adding, "Considering that political oppression claims do not arise, I understand that the appointment was made early."
On the other hand, there was also an analysis that President-elect Yoon chose a direct confrontation with the Democratic Party through Han's appointment. Former Secretary-General of the National Assembly Yoo In-tae said in an interview with CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show', "Nominating Han seems like telling the Democratic Party to push through (Geomsu Wanbak) a bit more aggressively," and added, "I get the feeling that since the Democratic Party judges that pushing it through is advantageous for the upcoming local elections, they are rather making a bold move." He said, "If the Democratic Party completes Geomsu Wanbak, it will be very advantageous for the People Power Party in the local elections, so it feels like the Democratic Party is recklessly stirring things up."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
