Choi Kang-wook: "Choo's Statement Is Not a Official Secret" Dismisses Ministry of Justice's Alleged Internal Leak

"Explanation of the original disclosure instructions by Choo"
"'Sumyeongja' is also an administrative law term"

Choi Kang-wook, Leader of the Open Democratic Party / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon, Intern Reporter Lim Joo-hyung] Choi Kang-wook, leader of the Open Democratic Party, dismissed allegations that he leaked a draft of Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's statement in advance, saying "It is not an official secret," thereby rejecting the so-called speculation about collusion between himself and the Ministry of Justice.

On the 10th, Choi appeared on KBS Radio's 'Kim Kyung-rae's Choi Kang Current Affairs' and stated, "Official secrets should conceal sensitive content, but this was not the case; Minister Choo originally instructed the content to be made public," clarifying the matter.

He continued, "It was not that communication with the spokesperson was mishandled causing the draft to be discarded, but there were Plan A and Plan B, and both were supposed to be released. The confusion arose because only Plan B was released," he explained, quoting Minister Choo.

He added, "They are exaggerating by using the term 'state manipulation' for political purposes," and pointed out, "If the content was so significant and had such enormous impact that it constituted state manipulation, it wouldn't be taken down shortly after being posted."

Choi criticized, "The secretaries accompanying Minister Choo knew right beside her that both statements were going out, so sending them to acquaintances?is that such a big deal?" He further remarked, "The real problem was Choi Soon-sil receiving and revising the president's speech."

Regarding suspicions that Choi drafted Minister Choo's statement because the term 'sumyeongja (受命者·person receiving a legal order)' used in the statement is typically used in military courts rather than the legal community, Choi rebutted, "It is an administrative law term," and said, "This is an utterly groundless claim, and it seems they cannot escape the idea of exploiting this for political gain."

Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae is coming out of the Ministry of Justice at the Government Complex Gwacheon in Gyeonggi-do on the afternoon of the 10th. / Photo by Yonhap News

Earlier, on the afternoon of the 8th, Choi posted a message titled 'Ministry of Justice Notice' on his Facebook. The post included statements such as "A 'sumyeongja' who receives legal orders has the obligation to comply, and following them shows respect for the commander," and "From the standpoint of respect, proposing alternative options is not the duty of a public official."

He went on to comment, "The duty of a public official is the very thing Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl lacks most," and added, "Even though I said it was a checkmate since yesterday. Tsk tsk."

However, about 30 minutes after posting, Choi deleted the post. He explained, "The Ministry of Justice notice containing phrases like 'duty of a public official' was confirmed to be inaccurate, so I deleted it," and apologized, saying, "The Ministry of Justice never issued such a notice. Sorry for the confusion."

According to explanations from multiple media outlets and the Ministry of Justice, the content of the post Choi first uploaded is known to be a draft of the statement Minister Choo issued toward Prosecutor General Yoon. This led to suspicions that the Ministry of Justice leaked the statement to Choi before officially delivering it.

At the time, Choi explained on Facebook, "The media is playing it as if I was conspiring with the Ministry of Justice, but that is completely wrong," and added, "I just briefly copied and pasted a friend's post."

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