President Lee Jae-myung: "Refusing Testimony at the National Assembly Cannot Be Tolerated... Issue of National Discipline"

President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at the Cabinet meeting held on the 14th at the Presidential Office building in Yongsan, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

President Lee Jae-myung emphasized on the 14th that refusing to testify or committing perjury at the National Assembly should never be tolerated. He instructed the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Justice to check the status of related investigations, calling it an "issue of national discipline."

While presiding over a Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office in Yongsan on this day, President Lee stated, "I believe it should never be allowed for people who are required by law to tell the truth to members of the National Assembly, who represent the people, to refuse to testify or blatantly lie."

President Lee further criticized, "Since last year, when testimony is requested at the National Assembly, people refuse for unreasonable reasons or go and lie. This problem keeps repeating. It should not be this way."

He demanded that "the prosecution and the police must take responsibility." He pointed out, "There have been countless reports of perjury cases, so why are there no investigations? This continues because it is left unchecked." He then instructed, "Check how the reports were made and how they were handled by reviewing the status of the investigations."

President Lee also remarked, "In the past, if what someone said turned out to be untrue, they would apologize. If someone lied and did not apologize, they were not treated as a decent person." He added, "Now, being good at lying seems to be seen as a skill. Fake news does not disappear over time; instead, it sometimes forms its own force."