Joo Ho-young: "Not to Guard Against Yoon but to Perform Duties... Choo Should Be Dismissed"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Regarding Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the People Power Party, saying that "Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol should clarify that he is not engaging in politics," and the criticism that this might be seen as "being cautious," he explained, "Clarifying that point is much more helpful for performing duties."

On the morning of the 3rd, Joo appeared on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" and said, "(The government and ruling party) keep attacking, so clarifying 'I am not currently planning to engage in politics' is much more helpful for performing duties."

He said, "What Prosecutor General Yoon does or does not do after retirement is a matter of freedom of occupational choice guaranteed by the Constitution and a decision for the people. The advice is to make it clearer that 'just performing duties leaves no time for other thoughts,' which would make his exercise of prosecutorial power or neutrality clearer."

Joo said, "This administration has appointed people like Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae and Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu, who are known to lack political neutrality just by their names, and Prosecutor General Yoon is arguably the most politically neutral. The government and ruling party are damaging the purity of investigative motives by saying 'Yoon Seok-yeol is doing that to engage in politics,'" he pointed out.

Regarding criticism that all opposition support is concentrated on Prosecutor General Yoon, he said, "Whether it is support for the People Power Party or anything else, the votes are all gathered as anti-Moon or opposition support," and "when our party's support is low and theirs is high, there is no reason for us to be anxious or anything like that," he said.

Regarding Minister Choo, he said, "In a normal country, Minister Choo should have been dismissed long ago," and "From the time of her appointment, I have strongly criticized the president's perception of appointing a person who held five terms as a Democratic Party member and was the party leader to the Ministry of Justice, which should be the most neutral."

He criticized, "Her background not only causes distrust, but most of what she has done as Minister of Justice has been to forcibly and illegally chase out Prosecutor General Yoon," and "If the opposition had held the majority in the National Assembly, she would not have escaped impeachment."

Regarding the 'judge surveillance' allegations, he explained, "Judges would not feel good if they found out we were monitoring them. However, whether this is illegal or not must be examined separately," and "The prosecution is also a party in criminal trials. When we have a trial, no one would not search online to find out who the judges in charge are."

Joo said, "There is no doubt that the character or tendencies could be problematic, but it is not something to prejudge now," and "it is necessary to investigate through the investigation whether the acquisition process was lawful or not," he said.

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