The Day After Yoon's National Audit... Cho Kuk Posts "Even If You Cut Out the Rot, It Still Rots" Quote from Secret Forest

"No one will cut my right arm with the knife in my left hand" Emphasizing the need for the establishment of the Corruption Investigation Office
Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol at the National Assembly audit on the 22nd: "Choo's investigation orders are illegal and unjust"

Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk emphasized the necessity of establishing the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials on the 23rd by quoting a line from a drama on his social network service (SNS). The drama is tvN's "Stranger," which aired in 2017. / Photo by Cho Kuk Facebook capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Ju-hyung] On the 23rd, one day after Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol appeared at the National Assembly's audit, former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk emphasized the necessity of establishing the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (Hogeosa) by quoting a line from a drama.

On that day, former Minister Cho posted a photo with a line from the tvN drama "Stranger" on his Facebook, mentioning "the necessity of Hogeosa."

"Stranger" is a drama aired in 2017 that deals with the story of a prosecutor tracking a murder case sponsored by the prosecution. The photo posted by former Minister Cho features a line from the drama's main character, Prosecutor Hwang Si-mok (actor Cho Seung-woo).

In the photo, Hwang Si-mok says, "Rotten parts can be cut out. But no matter how much you cut out, I have witnessed every day for eight years that the place rots again," and adds, "There is no group anywhere in the Republic of Korea that would cut off my right arm with a knife held in their left hand. Only those who expected it get hurt."

Former Minister Cho is interpreted to have emphasized the need for prosecution reform and the establishment of Hogeosa through this line.

He has previously defined prosecution reform and media reform as the institutional completion of political democratization and has stressed the necessity of introducing Hogeosa and punitive damages system for that purpose.

Meanwhile, Prosecutor General Yoon, who appeared at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the 22nd, stated that the exercise of investigative command authority by Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae was "illegal and unjust."

On the 19th, Minister Chu issued an investigative command excluding Prosecutor General Yoon's authority regarding five cases, including the Lime Asset Management lobbying suspicion and allegations of bribery involving Yoon's wife.

Regarding this, Prosecutor General Yoon said, "The majority of prosecutors and legal experts believe that (Minister Chu's investigative command) violates the Prosecutors' Office Act."

He further explained, "Legally speaking, the Prosecutor General is not a subordinate of the Minister of Justice," adding, "The minister is basically a politician and a political public official. If the Prosecutor General were a subordinate of the minister, investigation and prosecution would fall under political status, which would distance the prosecution from political neutrality and judicial independence."

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