Jeon Ju-hye "Chu Mi-ae's 'Special Activity Expenses' Statement Baseless... Extremely Irresponsible"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Amid escalating conflict between Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae and Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol over the use of 'special activity funds (teukhwalbi)' managed by the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor's Office, Jeon Ju-hye, a member of the People Power Party, pointed out that Minister Choo's remarks about 'teukhwalbi' are unfounded.

On the 10th, Jeon appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and said, "Minister Choo raised two suspicions: that 'Prosecutor General Yoon is not providing special activity funds to the Central District Prosecutors' Office, causing difficulties for the investigation team,' and that 'Prosecutor General Yoon is using the special activity funds like petty cash,' but these are actually groundless."

Including Jeon, lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties on the Judiciary Committee visited the Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Justice on the 9th to verify the details of the special activity funds. Jeon said, "I understand that verifying special activity funds is unprecedented. Therefore, for the minister to make such remarks in the Judiciary Committee, she should have had some factual basis, but I think Minister Choo was very irresponsible."

Regarding whether additional verification at the Judiciary Committee level is necessary, he stated, "I think we need to discuss it. However, since a significant part of the two points raised by Minister Choo has been revealed to be groundless, I do not think it is necessary."

In response to criticism that the Supreme Prosecutors' Office data was not properly disclosed, he said, "There are materials from both the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Ministry of Justice that have not been disclosed," adding, "The materials brought from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office were not inadequate."

He further said, "On the contrary, in the case of the Ministry of Justice, yesterday, ruling party lawmakers did not ask questions, and mainly opposition lawmakers asked many questions about the Ministry of Justice's data or the execution details of the Ministry's special funds," and questioned, "Special funds are expenses related to confidential information and investigations that require secrecy, but what kind of 'confidential information or investigations' does the Ministry of Justice, which does not conduct investigations, have?"

He continued, "About 1 billion won of such special funds were executed only in the Prosecutor's Office, and although I asked the Prosecutor General several times for details, I did not receive a satisfactory answer," adding, "The execution of special activity funds by the Ministry of Justice rather has suspicious aspects."

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