Kim Jong-min, Innovation Committee Chair, "Permanent National Audit... People Power Party Should Not Oppose the Corruption Investigation Office Chief More Than 3 Times"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] Kim Jong-min, senior supreme council member of the Democratic Party of Korea and chairman of the '2020 The Innovation Committee,' stated that a 'permanent National Assembly audit' should be introduced. He also warned that if the People Power Party continues to unreasonably exercise its veto power over the appointment of the head of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), their approval rating could drop to single digits.

On the 27th, Kim appeared on TBS's 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' and said, "It will be difficult to escape political strife audits under the current system," adding, "We should abolish the regular National Assembly audit and replace it with a permanent audit before the regular session."

He believes that conducting a three-week audit during the regular National Assembly session leads to inadequate legislative and budget reviews. Kim said, "In the past, the opposition had few means to appeal to the public," and explained, "During the regular session, the opposition could pick a specific day when the media was fully focused, expose something, appeal to the public, and even as a minority, lead the political situation. But now, there are hardly any such situations where an exposure overturns the status quo."

Regarding prosecution issues, he pointed out the responsibility of the media. Kim stated, "At the root of prosecution problems lies the media issue," and added, "I don't know if they support Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl thinking that his confrontation with power is a matter of principle."

He continued, "The media is currently unilaterally pushing Prosecutor General Yoon regarding his series of actions starting from the investigation of Cho Kuk."

He also compared the situation to former Blue House civil affairs chief Woo Byung-woo. Kim said, "Yoon Seok-youl's prosecution is ultimately being dragged into the swamp of politics," and recalled, "I have said several times during Woo Byung-woo's tenure that if Park Geun-hye and Woo Byung-woo, who committed various wrongdoings, control and manipulate the prosecution behind the scenes, and yet the media does not criticize them, this administration will collapse, and Woo Byung-woo will ruin it. I have made such remarks."

He added, "I think the same applies now. The media does not properly point out the real problems with Prosecutor General Yoon and continues to cheer him on."

When asked about the Democratic Party's current perception of the situation, he said, "In principle, it is absolutely unacceptable to leave unchecked the prosecution engaging in politics, especially when the prosecution organization, with 2,000 prosecutors, jumps into politics."

Regarding the possibility of opposition members of the recommendation committee for the appointment of the CIO head opposing the nomination, he said, "If the People Power Party only deals with the Democratic Party, they can endlessly repeat the same thing, but they have to deal with the public. It is a complete mockery of the people," adding, "If they do not recommend or obstruct the recommendation of the CIO head, the public will not stand idly by. The People Power Party's approval rating will probably fall to single digits."

When asked how many times they could wait for the 'repetition,' he said, "Even if they are reasonable and qualified, if they oppose it up to three times, this must be legally and institutionally remedied." He emphasized, "The CIO head issue must be concluded by November."

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