Even Democratic Party Asks "Who Is That?"... PPP Slams "Back to Seongnam Line"

[Anchor]

Even within the Democratic Party, the mood was stirred over the selection of Lee Yong-chul as the nominee for Minister of Justice. The People Power Party criticized the move, asking whether after going in circles it inevitably comes back to the "Gyeonggi Seongnam line," and calling it an appointment aimed at dropping the indictments against President Lee Jae-myung.

Reporter Kim Kwan-jin reports next.

[Reporter]

Justice Minister nominee Lee Yong-chul is the figure who revealed in 2007 that he had returned 5 million won in cash sent by Samsung while serving as presidential secretary for legal affairs at the Blue House during the Roh Moo-hyun administration.

[Lee Yong-chul / Justice Minister Nominee (2007): "I also felt a sense of humiliation, wondering if my character was only worth 5 million won."]

Although he was the central figure in an incident that caused waves at the time, most reactions even within the Democratic Party were unfamiliar with him as a nominee for Minister of Justice.

Immediately after the Blue House made the personnel announcement, SBS asked Democratic Party lawmakers on the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee for their opinions on Lee's selection. Responses came back saying, "I don't know nominee Lee well" or "I was surprised they nominated the head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration."

Some lawmakers also noted they had assumed one of the Democratic Party lawmakers rumored right up until the announcement, Representative Park Kyun-taek or Representative Yang Bu-nam, would be chosen.

A key ruling party official told SBS that the Blue House appeared to feel burdened by appointing a sitting lawmaker with a prosecutorial background, emphasizing that nominee Lee is someone who has built trust with President Lee.

The People Power Party urged the withdrawal of the nomination, intensively raising allegations that nominee Lee was involved in the appointment of Yoo Dong-gyu, former head of the planning division at Seongnam Development Corporation, a key figure in the Daejang-dong development project.

[Park Choong-kwon / Senior Spokesperson, People Power Party: "Not satisfied with dropping indictments, they are now trying to install the hidden architect of Daejang-dong as the Minister of Justice."]

They questioned whether, after going around in circles, the only ones who can be trusted to drop indictments are the "Gyeonggi Seongnam line," and also raised the possibility of intervention by Kim Hyun-ji, Director of the First Attached Office.

Nominee Lee stated that he feels a heavy sense of responsibility being nominated at a grave time, expressing his commitment to completing prosecutorial reform without disruption and striving to firmly establish the new criminal justice system.

(Video by Oh Young-choon, Lee Seung-hwan, Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing by Yoo Mi-ra | Design by Choi Jin-hoe)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.