Opposition: “Lee Yong-cheol, an aide in dropping charges ... Kim Hyun-ji’s handiwork”

[Financial News] The People Power Party has continued its daily offensive against the Special Counsel Act on Fabricated Prosecution, which passed the National Assembly plenary session. It said Lee Yong-cheol, the nominee for justice minister, was nothing more than a “special minister tasked with withdrawing indictments,” and warned it would deem him unqualified unless he said, “There will absolutely be no withdrawal of the indictment.”
Jang Dong-hyeok, leader of the People Power Party, said at a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly on the 12th, “I hear President Lee Jae Myung had dinner with party leader Kim Min-seok and floor leader Han Byung-do and stressed that the ruling party and government were ‘of one heart and one mind.’” He said, “It means they are now in the same boat as accomplices in a jailbreak, and must not think differently.”
Jang claimed, “The nominee, who has been given the special mission of engineering a jailbreak, has repeated the same thing for three days, saying he will wait and see what the special counsel investigating the truth finds.” He added, “It means he intends to help President Lee escape through the withdrawal of the indictment, one way or another.”
He continued, “I hear that when the nominee was a lawyer, he defended a heinous criminal in a case involving the murder of an entire family and arson, and claimed the prosecution had used coercive investigative methods. That is a carbon copy of the administration’s claim that the prosecution fabricated charges.” He said, “He will lead the Lee Jae Myung jailbreak project using that very strategy.” He added, “When media reports poured in, he reportedly said he had merely put his name on it,” calling him “a spiritual twin of President Lee, who said he knew nothing about the illegal remittances to North Korea.”
Jang claimed, “Whatever conclusion they reach, the public will not believe them, and they alone will end up in prison for the crime of distorting the law.” He said, “Lee Jae Myung first looks for ways to shift responsibility. He will go to China and leave it to Prime Minister Han Seong-sook to get it through the State Council.”
He said, “Given this behavior—leaving the prime minister to handle the matter that could land him in prison while he himself flees to China—it seems even his aides may have reached the point of abandoning the president.” He added, “The trial must resume before defendant Lee Jae Myung tears up the indictment with his own hands. If the trial is delayed and the jailbreak project succeeds, the courts, too, will face the people’s judgment as accomplices in the jailbreak.”
At the same meeting, floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig took aim at the nominee, saying, “The justice minister in the Lee Jae Myung administration is nothing more than a special minister tasked with withdrawing indictments.”
When the nominee emphasized the need to establish the truth about allegations of fabricated prosecution, Jeong pointed out, “To establish the truth about fabricated prosecution, at least one piece of evidence or indication of deliberate fabrication must come to light.” He added, “The conclusion of the investigation by the Prosecutors’ Future Committee during Minister Jung Sung-ho’s tenure was that there had been no illegality.”
Jeong said, “The special counsel is nothing more than a perfunctory procedure to reach a finding of fabricated prosecution.” He added, “Even though his intentions are plain to see, the nominee acts as if he were an impartial and upright person, saying he was neither the president’s lawyer in the case nor part of a group advocating withdrawal of the indictment.”
Jeong again took issue with the fact that the nominee was part of the “Seongnam line,” with ties to Kim Hyun-ji, chief of the Blue House’s auxiliary office. He said, “While the nominee was CEO of the Seongnam Industry Promotion Foundation, he joined a Seongnam City task force on how to use the Korea Food Research Institute site in Baekhyeon-dong. The controversial change in land use took place afterward.” He pointed out, “Since the Baekhyeon-dong case is included in the special counsel’s investigation, his appointment as justice minister could involve a conflict of interest.”
He continued, “It is a lie to say he has no particular relationship with Chief Kim. The nominee worked with Kim on the transition committee for the Seongnam mayor and even served as CEO of the Seongnam Industry Promotion Foundation—he is a dyed-in-the-wool member of the Seongnam line.” He claimed, “It has come to light that Saegil Law Firm, where the nominee was managing partner, previously represented Chief Kim in a case involving a violation of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection. Their close ties are a given, and the nominee’s appointment itself was Kim’s handiwork.”
Jeong stressed, “Because of President Lee, the top criterion for choosing a justice minister in this country has become the ability to help someone escape from prison.” He added, “If the nominee does not say there will absolutely be no withdrawal of the indictment, we will conclude that he is categorically unqualified to serve as minister.”

[email protected] Lee Hae-ram Reporter