Joo Ho-young: "Park Deok-heum's Withdrawal from Party is Painful... Hope He Clears His Name with Confidence"

Regarding the Amendment to the Public Corruption Investigation Office Act: "All the Bad Schemes Are Included"

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, is attending the Emergency Response Committee meeting held at the National Assembly on the 24th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, stated on the 24th regarding Representative Park Deok-heum's resignation, “(Representative Park) requested the party to ask investigative agencies for a swift investigation,” and added, “The Democratic Party of Korea, cornered by cases involving Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae, and Representatives Yoon Mi-hyang, Lee Sang-jik, and Kim Hong-gul, is trying to divert attention by targeting our lawmakers, but we hope they will confidently prove their innocence.”

At the emergency countermeasure meeting held that day, Floor Leader Joo said, “Representative Park has submitted his resignation,” calling it “a heartbreaking matter.”

Floor Leader Joo emphasized, “We will definitely address the issue of conflicts of interest in the National Assembly,” and added, “This time, we will organize all conflicts of interest among lawmakers assigned to each standing committee and actively review related conflict of interest legislation.”

Regarding the High-ranking Officials’ Crime Investigation Agency (Gongu-cheo), Floor Leader Joo criticized, “The Democratic Party seems to consider cooperation only when it benefits their own actions, and opposition as non-cooperation,” and said, “Yesterday, they unilaterally tabled an amendment to the Gongu-cheo Act. They are trying to amend a law that has never even been implemented.”

He pointed out, “They claim to have proposed the amendment because we did not recommend candidates for the Gongu-cheo chief, but if that were true, they would only amend the provisions related to recommendations to show sincerity. Instead, they changed the qualification from having over 10 years of experience as a lawyer to over 5 years, opening the door to lawyers from Minbyun who share their ideology and listen to them well.” He added, “They also changed the term from three years renewable three times to a fixed seven years, allowing prosecutors appointed by the Moon Jae-in administration to control Gongu-cheo throughout the next administration. This is a very bad scheme. Where else in the world is there such an all-powerful dictatorial organization?”

Regarding Cho Sung-dae, a candidate for the Central Election Commission, Floor Leader Joo said, “The hearing revealed that Candidate Cho is completely unqualified,” and added, “The Democratic Party, having the numbers, will probably push this through the plenary session, but this will be remembered as a regime that destroyed democracy and compromised election neutrality.”

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