Kang Hoon-sik: "Minister Chu, Please Complete Prosecution Reform; National Assembly Will Establish the Corruption Investigation Office"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] On the 14th, Kang Hoon-sik, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, told Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae, who attended the government questioning session, "I will not question you," and said, "Please complete the prosecution reform, and the National Assembly will establish the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO)." The government questioning session attended by Minister Choo became a major battleground over allegations of special military service for her children.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Rep. Kang explained the reason for not questioning the allegations regarding Minister Choo's children, saying, "It is appropriate not to mention ongoing investigations to ensure fair prosecution investigations." He added, "It is obvious that if we demand answers from a minister who cannot respond about the investigation, and if she answers, it will be framed as providing guidelines or an unfair prosecution investigation."

Instead, he said, "Now that everything has come to a halt due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), I want to talk about something more constructive and related to the future," and continued his questions about work-life balance and balanced national development.

Rep. Kang suggested to Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, "The current parental leave system is still family-centered or childcare-centered," and proposed, "If the system and workforce are supported by mandatory paternity leave or a system for the permanent employment of substitute workers like in Sweden, flexible jobs will increase. Please look into this."

Regarding balanced national development, he also said, "I believe balanced development is not simply decentralization but the redistribution of opportunities and the realization of equality in justice," and urged, "Instead of just having advisory bodies, all ministries should collectively set this issue as an important agenda and take care of it."

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