Ha Tae-kyung: "If 60 Pro-Yoon Prosecutors Run in the General Election, the Party Will Collapse"

"Democratic Party Supports Law to Prevent Yoon Seok-yeol"

Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, expressed concerns that the party could collapse if 50 to 60 pro-Yoon prosecutors are massively recruited and nominated in next year's general election. He also expressed principled support for the Democratic Party of Korea's 'Yoon Seok-yeol Prevention Act,' which prohibits prosecutors from running for office within one year of retirement.

On the 10th, Ha said on BBS's 'Jeon Young-shin's Morning Journal,' "There are about 50 to 60 prosecutors who are close to the president, pro-Yoon prosecutors, right? Then our party will collapse. The party will probably disappear."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Although he added the caveat that "such a thing will not happen," his remarks are interpreted as showing the sense of crisis among incumbent lawmakers ahead of the general election, as the party leadership has been reorganized with pro-Yoon members.

He also proposed restricting the nomination of prosecutors during the general election. Ha said, "We need to recruit many new figures. We need a transfusion, but personally, even as a party policy, new prosecutors, not the existing ones, should be strictly limited in number," adding, "The Democratic Party has already framed itself as a 'prosecutorial republic' and a 'prosecutor regime,' and if our party also becomes known as the 'prosecutor party,' we will suffer a crushing defeat in the general election."

However, nominations of so-called 'legal professionals' from both ruling and opposition parties have never ceased in every general election. Since most members of the National Assembly are lawmakers, legal professionals have room to play an active role in the legislative process. Ha said, "Not only prosecutors but also judges must maintain political neutrality due to the independence of the judiciary," and "However, if judges or prosecutors resign from their positions and immediately run for office before the election, their political neutrality is compromised. From the public's perspective, they will think those people were political prosecutors and political judges, won't they?"

He also expressed support for the so-called 'Yoon Seok-yeol Prevention Act.' Ha said, "The Democratic Party seems to have proposed a law that prosecutors must resign one year before running for office. Judges must also resign six months before running for office. I hope the party's position is established on this," adding, "This is to strengthen the political neutrality of our judiciary rather than our politics." He said this is to eliminate public distrust of the judiciary.