DP Chief Kim Min-seok: "Kim Seung-won is a Great Choice, Han Dong-hoon Must Be Punished"

Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok stated today (the 11th) regarding Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won, "The more we watch, the more we judge this to be a well-made appointment. We will protect him."

During the Supreme Council meeting held at the North Chungcheong Provincial Government office today, leader Kim emphasized, "I believe we can steadily proceed with the confirmation hearing for the nominee."

Regarding independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, a former prosecutor and justice minister, launching daily offensives over the nominee's "suspicion of soliciting approval for new drug clinical trials" by releasing transcript files, Kim claimed, "The essence of the current situation is that the continuation of virtually treasonous acts by the remaining prosecutors resisting prosecution reform is being exposed through Han Dong-hoon's attention-seeking politics."

He added, "Whether illegal materials were leaked or utilized with awareness, they are all part of an illegal material connection network. We will root out and punish all illegal material connections through this opportunity."

"Public judgment is also growing that lawmaker Han must be punished," he said, adding, "Even if I do not deliberately use the word 'out,' I believe the public's judgment is already heading toward him being out."

Leader Kim also pointed out, "There are those acting under the title of commentators who make absurd remarks that hitting lawmaker Han would make him into a YS (former President Kim Young-sam). This is a massive historical distortion, an insult to President Kim Young-sam, and a far-fetched distortion of logic."

He further criticized, "President Kim Young-sam stood firm against dictatorship and kept the spirit of May 18 as his identity, but people like Han Dong-hoon and Lee Jin-sook ultimately bowed their heads to dictators like Chun Doo-hwan and Yoon Suk Yeol."

Today, leader Kim did not separately mention Gender Equality and Family Minister nominee Yong Hye-in of the Basic Income Party, who has been embroiled in controversies regarding holding concurrent proportional representation seats and the privatization of her party.

Instead, he mentioned the reorganization of the criminal justice system.

Mentioning that the police will take charge of most general investigations starting next month through the so-called prosecution reform led by his party, leader Kim stated, "We will accelerate police reform," and added, "Neither prosecutors nor police should abuse investigative authority."

Regarding the prosecution service, leader Kim also explained, "I met with Interior and Safety Minister Yoon Ho-jung at the welcome event for President Lee Jae-myung returning from his visit to France yesterday, and the party has declared that it will examine the organization of the prosecution service to ensure the irreversibility of prosecution reform is not undermined. I made a special request to the Minister of the Interior and Safety to look closely into this part."

He added, "We will look after it so that the reorganization of the prosecution service structure does not lead to misunderstandings, distortions, counteractions, or regressions."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.