South Korea’s People Power Party calls Lee Jae-myung’s second cabinet a ‘terror attack on governance’

South Korea’s People Power Party has branded President Lee Jae-myung’s second cabinet lineup “a terror attack on governance,” arguing that the appointments serve his legal defense and the interests of the left-wing camp rather than government renewal.

Choi Soo-jin, the party’s senior floor leader spokesperson, made the accusation in a statement naming Kim Seung-won, the nominee for justice minister, Hong Ji-sun, the nominee for land and transport minister, and Yong Hye-in, the nominee for minister of gender equality and family.

Choi attacked Kim as a deeply flawed nominee who received a deferred indictment over alleged lobbying related to a request for a new drug. She also accused him of being a former lawyer for the Daejang-dong case and co-leader of a group calling for the withdrawal of an indictment. The party said his appointment amounted to an open attempt to seize control of the judiciary and erase the president’s trial.

“

The second cabinet is not government renewal but a terror attack on governance.

Hong, Choi said, designed Gyeonggi Province’s basic housing policy, which the opposition described as having wasted tens of billions of won in taxpayer money. She also called him a key aide to Lee during the 2021 Daejang-dong parliamentary audit, portraying the nomination as a promotion for both a failed policy designer and a close political ally.

Choi described Yong’s controversies over a family party and retention of her proportional-representation seat as “the height of greed and hypocrisy.” She also accused her of ties to an anti-women underground organization and said she had twice secured a proportional seat through satellite-party tactics while breaking the convention of resigning upon joining the cabinet to protect 1.1 billion won in state subsidies received by a party whose official is her husband.

The People Power Party called the reshuffle the unvarnished face of an unqualified left-wing coalition. Choi demanded that Lee immediately withdraw the nominees and apologize to the public.

“

This reshuffle exposes the true face of an unqualified left-wing coalition.