Kim Min-seok: "Kim Seung-won Proving to Be a Great Choice, Han Dong-hoon Must Be Punished"

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

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

Regarding independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, a former prosecutor and Minister of Justice, launching daily offensives over nominee Kim's "suspicion of soliciting approval for unauthorized clinical trials of a new drug" through the release of transcripts, Kim claimed, "The essence of the current situation is that a continuous act of insurrection by the remaining prosecutorial factions resisting prosecution reform is being exposed through Han Dong-hoon's attention-seeking politics."

He added, "Whether they leaked illegal materials, took cognizance of them, or utilized them, they are all part of the illegal material connection network. We will root out and punish all illegal material connections on this occasion."

He further stated, "Public sentiment is growing that lawmaker Han must definitely be punished. Even if I do not intentionally use the word 'out,' I believe he is already heading toward being out in the eyes of the public."

Leader Kim also pointed out, "There are so-called commentators making the absurd argument that hitting lawmaker Han would be like creating a Kim Young-sam. This is a massive historical distortion, an insult to President Kim Young-sam, and far-fetched distortion."

In addition, he criticized, "While former President Kim Young-sam stood tall against dictatorship and maintained the spirit of May 18 as his identity, people like Han Dong-hoon and Lee Jin-sook ultimately bowed their heads to dictators such as Chun Doo-hwan and Yoon Suk Yeol."

Today, leader Kim did not separately mention Ministry of Gender Equality and Family 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 abuse of investigative power will not be tolerated by either the prosecution or the police."

Leader Kim also explained regarding the Prosecution Service that he met with Minister of the Interior and Safety Yun Ho-jung during the welcome event for President Lee Jae-myung upon his return from visiting France the previous day, saying, "The party has previously declared that it will review the organizational structure of the Prosecution Service so that the irreversibility of prosecution reform is not undermined, and I made a special request to the Minister of the Interior and Safety that the ministry carefully look into this part."

He added, "We will make sure that the reorganization of the Prosecution Service's organizational structure does not involve misunderstandings, distortions, adverse effects, or setbacks."

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