Ruling Party Says Cho Kuk Is Unfit to Talk About Prosecutorial Reform, Urges Him to Step Aside in Candidate Unification

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\r\n[Financial News] Lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Korea criticized Cho Kuk, the leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party (RKP), saying he has "no right to talk about prosecutorial reform." They also pressured him to yield to Democratic Party candidate Kim Yong-nam in the race to unify progressive candidates in the Pyeongtaek-eul by-election, where Cho is running.
According to political sources on the 18th, Park Gyun-taek, a Democratic Party lawmaker and former prosecutor, used social media to point to Cho's role as Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs during the Moon Jae-in administration, when he led reforms of state power institutions. Park said, "It is hard to say that Yoon Suk Yeol, who rose all the way to the presidency after the Special Investigation Division of the Prosecutors' Office became an organization that went beyond targeted investigations and carried out political hunts, has nothing to do with Cho Kuk's misjudgment, incompetence, and political greed toward the prosecution."
\r\nDemocratic Party Supreme Council member Lee Eon-ju shared the post on social media the same day and said Cho's reforms at the time "only strengthened the Blue House's power while leaving front-line police power largely unchecked. It was closer to a backlash than a reform." She added, "Politics and power do not work on good intentions alone. You need the ability to carry them through and put them into practice."
The reason some Democratic Party lawmakers are pushing back is the candidate unification between Kim and Cho in Pyeongtaek-eul. The two are running within the margin of error. If Cho enters the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea through the by-election, he is trying to rally the broader Democratic and progressive bloc by saying he will personally complete the Democratic Party's prosecutorial reform. He has also been repeatedly attacking Kim's past remarks from the time he belonged to a conservative party. 
In this regard, Democratic Party lawmaker Park Jie-won appeared on SBS Radio on the 18th and called for unification, saying, "He should step aside for the sake of himself and the future of the Rebuilding Korea Party."
\r\nPark said, "All objective media polls currently show Kim Yong-nam ahead," and argued, "If Cho steps aside, he will gain a future."
\r\nAsked whether the remarks implied a possible merger with the Democratic Party, which Cho has suggested, he said, "We will have to negotiate to find out, but if the progressive forces move together, we may be able to find a rationale there."
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jiwon.song@fnnews.com Song Ji-won Reporter