Minister Choo Mi-ae Directly Addresses Statement Leak "Appropriate Measures If False Reports Continue"... Followed by Civic Group Complaints

Yeo Explains "State Affairs Manipulation" Allegations in Detail with KakaoTalk and Telegram Screenshots
Civic Groups File Prosecution Complaints Against Minister Chu, Choi Kang-wook, Choi Min-hee, and Minister's Aide

A screenshot of Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's Facebook page (left) and a screenshot of Choo's Facebook page posted by Choi Kang-wook, leader of the Open Democratic Party.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] As controversy over the background of the prior leak of the Ministry of Justice’s statement regarding the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s proposal on the investigation command of the 'prosecutor-media collusion' case escalated, Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae stepped forward to clarify the situation herself.

Amid criticism mainly from opposition parties accusing political figures behind the Ministry of Justice of manipulating Minister Chu, labeling it as 'state power manipulation' and 'legal-political manipulation,' she drew a clear line.

In the early hours of the 10th, Minister Chu posted on her Facebook, "There have been strange questions raised repeatedly about the post I wrote, so I will clarify it clearly," and provided a detailed explanation of the situation at the time.

She stated, "The proposal from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office was reported to me at 6:22 p.m. I drafted a message indicating that it differed from my instructions and sent it via KakaoTalk at 6:40 p.m. After confirming the alternative content from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, which included the investigation team, I sent an additional revised draft at 7:22 p.m. to clearly express my intention not to replace the investigation team, including the chief prosecutor."

She continued, "My instructions were immediately shared through the Ministry of Justice’s Telegram chatroom, and apart from the directive I sent, a separate message created by Ministry officials arrived at 7:39 p.m., to which I responded that both were acceptable and ordered their disclosure."

Minister Chu also warned that if false reports persistently damage her credibility by linking her to specific lawmakers, appropriate measures would inevitably be taken.

Along with this, she attached screenshots of the KakaoTalk message she sent to Ministry of Justice staff on the evening of the 8th and the Telegram screen showing the draft statement she received from the Ministry’s staff.

On the 8th, about two hours after the Ministry of Justice’s statement was publicly released through the media, Choi Kang-wook, leader of the Open Democratic Party, posted a statement titled [Ministry of Justice Notice] on his Facebook, containing content not notified to reporters, sparking controversy.

The content stated, "Those who receive lawful command have an obligation to comply, and following it is respecting the commander. From the standpoint of respect, proposing alternative options is not the duty of a public official. There is no reason to distrust the current investigation team, including the chief prosecutor."

About 20 minutes later, he deleted the post and apologized, saying, "The Ministry of Justice never expressed such a notice. I hope there is no misunderstanding. I apologize for the confusion."

This situation fueled speculation that there might have been prior coordination between the Ministry of Justice or Minister Chu and ruling party politicians regarding the drafting of the statement.

Summarizing the series of events, the reason the statement not delivered to reporters ended up in the hands of Representative Choi appears to be an internal communication issue within the Ministry of Justice. The post Choi uploaded and then deleted was a draft of the statement. The revised draft was subsequently delivered to the Minister.

Minister Chu approved both drafts and ordered their disclosure, but the spokesperson’s office misunderstood and only released the revised draft to the press pool.

Meanwhile, other staff members disseminated both the draft and the revised draft through various media channels, not only to the press but also through other communication means.

The Ministry of Justice explained, "At the time of the spokesperson’s office pool, some staff perceived both A (draft) and B (revised draft) as being released externally and spread them around, but there was no fact of sending them to lawmakers such as Representative Choi."

However, the truth of this seemingly simple controversy will ultimately be revealed through the prosecution’s investigation.

On the morning of the same day, the Judicial Examination Preparation Association (Representative Kwon Min-sik) filed a complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office against Minister Chu and an unidentified Ministry of Justice employee for leaking official secrets in the course of duty related to this incident.

Additionally, the civic group Action Alliance for Establishing the Rule of Law (Representative Lee Jong-bae) filed a complaint with the prosecution against Representative Choi, Minister Chu’s aides, and others for official secret leakage, obstruction of business by spreading false information, and defamation under the Criminal Act.

Political disputes are also ongoing. Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the Future United Party, labeled it a 'state power manipulation case,' and Jin Joong-kwon, former professor at Dongyang University, called it a 'second state power manipulation case.'

Won Hee-ryong, Governor of Jeju Province, also raised the criticism level, saying, "It is a reenactment of state power manipulation," and "If Minister Chu shared the statement with Choi Kang-wook, a criminal suspect, it is a worse state power manipulation than Choi Soon-sil’s."

Some pointed out that the word 'sumyeongja' (受命者, meaning 'the person who receives orders'), mainly used in military trials, appeared in the post deleted by Representative Choi, raising suspicions that Choi, a former military legal officer, might have directly drafted the statement.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.