Lee Jae-oh: "Choo Mi-ae Played Tricks to Oust Yoon Seok-yeol"

Autumn, Exercise of Investigation Command Authority in the Lime and Yoon Seok-yeol Family Cases

Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae (left) is arriving at the Ministry of Justice in the Government Complex Gwacheon on the morning of the 19th. Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl is also arriving at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul on the same morning. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae has exercised investigative command authority to strip Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol of his control over the Lime Asset Management lobbying allegations case and the family and close associates' accusation cases. On the 19th, Lee Jae-oh, senior advisor of the People Power Party, sharply criticized, "This is a prank by Minister Choo to oust Prosecutor General Yoon."

On the same day, Senior Advisor Lee appeared on CBS's 'Sisa Jaki Jung Gwan-yong' and said, "Since both the ruling and opposition parties are involved, the prosecution currently has the possibility to downplay, manipulate, or conceal the investigation regardless of how it proceeds. Therefore, I believe this case should be investigated through a special prosecutor," expressing his opinion.

Regarding the mention that an anonymous opposition politician appearing in former Star Mobility Chairman Kim Bong-hyun's 'prison letter' is either affiliated with the People Power Party or close to Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, Senior Advisor Lee said, "Kim is currently a defendant. Isn't he currently detained?" He added, "A detained person could be colluding with prosecutors opposed to Prosecutor General Yoon to oust him."

Senior Advisor Lee further stated, "Since names of Blue House and ruling party figures are appearing one after another, whether this is true or not needs to be investigated, but ultimately, isn't this an attempt to oust Prosecutor General Yoon first to prevent damage to the ruling party?" he pointed out.

On the other hand, Professor Choi Jin-bong of Sungkonghoe University, who appeared on the same program, said, "In the early stages, it was the opposition party that attacked and trusted former Chairman Kim's statements," and criticized, "The opposition party used those statements to claim that former Blue House Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Kang Ki-jung and others related to the Blue House were all problematic."

Professor Choi said, "I don't understand why the opposition party is changing its stance like this," and emphasized, "In any case, those mentioned by that person should be excluded as related parties in this case. That is the only way to ensure fairness, isn't it?"

He also said, "Of course, Prosecutor General Yoon may feel wronged. But if he was not involved, wouldn't it be revealed later through investigation?" and added, "To clearly determine whether this person's statements are true or not, and to ensure fairness, those mentioned by this person should be excluded from the main subjects of the case, and the investigation results of others should be presented. This would produce results that are persuasive to the public."

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