Chung Jeom-sik calls accused president and non-prosecuted justice minister nominee a national tragedy

Chung Jeom-sik, floor leader of South Korea’s People Power Party, described the prospect of an accused president serving alongside a justice minister who received a non-prosecution disposition as “a national tragedy.”

Speaking at a parliamentary party meeting on the 4th, Chung said Kim Seung-won, the nominee for justice minister responsible for prosecution-related matters, was not qualified to face a confirmation hearing. He called for the nomination to be withdrawn immediately.

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Having an accused president facing five trials, and now a justice minister who received a non-prosecution disposition, is a national tragedy.

Chung rejected Kim’s claim that he would have no direct authority over decisions to cancel indictments and would not direct prosecutors through the prosecutor general. Chung called that explanation a lie designed to leave escape routes through special counsels and other indirect methods.

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The nominee for justice minister responsible for canceling indictments is not qualified to face a confirmation hearing. The nomination should be withdrawn immediately.

He said the allegations surrounding a new-drug bribery case made Kim’s nomination unacceptable. In Chung’s view, placing someone who received a non-prosecution disposition in a bribery-related case at the ministry overseeing prosecution would create “an enormous conflict of interest.”

Chung also broadened his attack to the president’s political standing. Referring to former Justice Minister Cho Kuk’s warning that President Lee could suffer if he pushed ahead with canceling an indictment, Chung said the ruling camp had effectively reversed its position within four months. He asked whether that reversal would have been possible without a sharp fall in the president’s approval rating.

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A lame duck has already begun.

“A lame duck has already begun,” Chung said, arguing that the administration’s greater problem was not political decline but addiction to power. He defined that condition as the belief that power held in one’s hands will last forever and that one will be exempt from the effects of a lame-duck period. As power addiction intensifies, he said, political decline arrives faster, and he accused the current administration of showing symptoms close to a severe stage.

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Unfortunately, the current administration is already showing symptoms close to a severe stage of power addiction.