Ha Tae-kyung: "Seo Wook Should Care About the Anger of Young Soldiers, Not Minister Chu's Mood"

Seo Wook, "You must be very uncomfortable" to Chu

Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, is questioning at the confirmation hearing for Won In-chul, the nominee for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held on the morning of the 18th at the National Defense Committee in the National Assembly, Yeouido, Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] On the 22nd, Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, directed a statement at Seo Wook, Minister of National Defense, saying, "Stop only catering to Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's mood and listen to the anger of the young soldiers."

In a post on his Facebook that day, Ha said, "The remarks made by Minister Choo during the recess of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee meeting yesterday are controversial. However, Seo Minister's remarks shocked me even more. As soon as the committee meeting was recessed, Seo Minister expressed concern to Minister Choo, saying, 'You must be very uncomfortable,'" he said.

He added, "The Minister of National Defense, who commands 500,000 troops, should focus more on resolving the unfairness faced by young soldiers rather than managing the mood of powerful figures," and explained, "In particular, the Ministry of National Defense is the party involved in the special treatment controversy concerning Minister Choo's son. The Ministry ignored its own regulations and guidelines and granted special favors to the son of a powerful figure. All materials that could verify the facts were discarded, and management was inadequate. It can only be seen as a cover-up."

He continued, "The Minister of National Defense should apologize to the public for this, yet he is worrying about Minister Choo's mood even in the National Assembly," and pointed out, "What Seo Minister should be concerned about is not Minister Choo's mood but the young soldiers hurt by this incident."

Earlier, on the 21st, when a 10-minute recess was declared during the full meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Seo Minister spoke to Minister Choo, who was seated to his left, saying, "You must be very uncomfortable." In response, Minister Choo said, "It's absurd. That person is better off being a member of the National Assembly than a prosecutor. It seems he will catch many innocent people."

Although Minister Choo did not directly mention the name of a specific lawmaker, considering that the questioner just before the recess was Kim Do-eup, the opposition party's secretary of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee from the People Power Party, the remark appears to be aimed at Representative Kim.

Defense Minister nominee Seo Wook is attending the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 16th, responding to questions from lawmakers. [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 16th, Ha Tae-kyung also had a verbal dispute with Seo Minister regarding the special treatment allegations involving Minister Choo's son.

At that time, Seo, who was the nominee for Minister of National Defense, argued about the allegations related to Minister Choo's son, saying, "It is an area judged by commanders, so it is difficult to speak uniformly. Each case varies depending on the commander's position and the soldiers' situations."

He added, "Everyone should be treated equally, but the problem is that each unit and case involves some judgment by the commander," and explained, "I hope that even this will be clearly defined in the regulations, but there is a bit of a problem."

When Ha asked, "Isn't this a simple case? The hospital records only show four days, but is it normal to have received 19 days of sick leave?" Seo replied, "You cannot judge solely based on whether someone went to the hospital or not. The start and end dates of the sick leave and other factors are included in the commander's judgment, so each case is slightly different."

Ha then criticized, "Did someone aspiring to be a minister come unprepared to give answers that all citizens want? This is like going to war without preparing weapons," and when Ha pointed out that Seo was "not acting like a soldier and only being cautious," Seo countered, "I am speaking sincerely and straightforwardly as I believe."

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