Kim Min-seok tells prosecutorial reform hard-liners: "The demands are excessive; it is time for the party to rein them in"

[Financial News] Kim Min-seok, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said on the 6th, targeting hard-line calls for prosecutorial reform, "If excessive demands or claims risk damaging the broader reform camp, its ranks and its front, or the president's leadership itself, it may be time for the party to rein them in."
Kim made the remarks on Minty07, a program on the party's YouTube channel Minjoo TV. "Most of the demands originally made by voices that strongly advocated prosecutorial reform have been met, and some measures have gone further," he said.
The comments came after President Lee Jae Myung directly put the brakes on hard-line calls for prosecutorial reform. The ruling party leader has also pointed to the need for the party to exercise control. Lee had stated on X, "The government did not drag its feet on prosecutorial reform; it carried it out more swiftly and completely than any previous government," adding, "This is not about taking revenge on prosecutors or destroying the functions of the prosecution."
Kim emphasized tangible results over the clarity of reform objectives. "The clarity of a reform's goal is important, but delivering actual results and ensuring that those results are substantial are more important," he said. He also cited a past case in which an effort to revise controversial provisions of the National Security Law during the Uri Party era collapsed amid calls for its complete repeal.
He stressed, "We cannot focus on only one reform at a time. Once we move beyond the stage of achieving tangible results to a certain extent, it is ultimately desirable to keep shifting our focus to issues directly connected to people's livelihoods." He identified social reform to address polarization, along with low-income finance, jobs and housing issues such as jeonse and monthly rentals, as key issues for the parliamentary audits beginning that day.
Regarding the parliamentary audit of the Supreme Court, where the ruling camp is at odds with the judiciary over issues including the re-nomination of Supreme Court justices, Kim called for a restrained approach. He said, "I think she will run the committee by appropriately moderating and restraining it as a whole, asking all the questions that need to be asked and pressing every point that needs to be pressed."
Kim also kept his distance from the political dispute over the film The Assassin(s), which is based on the shooting of Yuk Young-soo. He added, "Most films contain a mixture of fact and fiction to some degree, and it is not desirable for politicians to jump in and make an issue of it."

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