Jinseongjun: "The National Assembly Has No Authority to Hold the Presidential Office Accountable... Yoon Should Take Responsibility"

"Was there a claim of diplomatic failure during Moon's administration... Responsibility should have been held then"
"The president bears the greatest responsibility, must apologize and dismiss aides"

Jinseongjun, Senior Deputy Floor Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea./Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Yunjin Kim] Jin Seong-jun, the senior deputy floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, explained the reason for processing the motion to dismiss Foreign Minister Park Jin on the 30th, saying, "With President Yoon Seok-yeol's recent diplomatic tour, we have faced a situation where national dignity has been damaged and national interests harmed to the extent that it can be called a diplomatic disaster."

On the 30th, Jin appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and made these remarks. The motion to dismiss Minister Park, which was submitted to the plenary session of the National Assembly the previous day, was passed solely by the Democratic Party. Jin said, "Someone must take responsibility for this diplomatic disaster. Since the minister in charge of foreign affairs is the Foreign Minister, we judged that we could not help but hold the Foreign Minister accountable first."

Regarding the ruling party's claim that "even eating alone during former President Moon Jae-in's China tour was a diplomatic disaster," Jin drew a line, saying, "I don't know if there were people at that time who defined former President Moon's diplomatic tour as a diplomatic disaster." He continued, "If the ruling party thought it was a diplomatic disaster back then and believed someone should have been held politically responsible, they could have done so. But they did not, did they?"

Jin acknowledged, "Since it was the president's diplomatic tour, the direct and greatest responsibility for the diplomatic disaster lies with the president. And the presidential office aides who poorly supported the president bear significant responsibility," but he pointed out, "However, there is no way for the National Assembly to directly hold the president and presidential office aides accountable." Nevertheless, he asserted the legitimacy of the motion to dismiss Minister Park, saying, "No matter how normal the diplomacy is, the Foreign Minister holds overall responsibility."

In response to criticism that the motion was limited to a dismissal recommendation due to a lack of legal grounds rather than an impeachment motion, Jin rebutted, "You are confusing the two." He explained, "An impeachment motion is a legal action to hold someone accountable by filing a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court. However, a dismissal recommendation is submitted to hold political responsibility for mistakes, even if there is no illegality or unlawfulness. So far, there is no issue that can be seen as illegal or unlawful regarding Minister Park."

Meanwhile, the People Power Party submitted a 'Resolution to Urge Speaker Kim Jin-pyo to Resign' to the National Assembly Secretariat on the morning of the same day in response to Minister Park's dismissal motion. This was because Speaker Kim unilaterally changed the decision-making process according to the Democratic Party's claims, helping to submit and pass the dismissal motion despite no agreement between the ruling and opposition parties. Regarding this, Jin said, "I don't think the resignation recommendation will be processed in the National Assembly, nor has there been such a precedent. It is just an attempt to politically attack the Speaker."

Jin urged President Yoon to officially apologize for the controversy related to his overseas tour and to hold those responsible accountable. Jin stated, "(President Yoon) should apologize and clearly hold accountable those who caused this situation," arguing for the dismissal of related aides such as Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office, and Kim Eun-hye, the chief public relations officer.