Park Beom-gye Targeted by People Power Party... "If You Are Confident, Adopt the Witness"

On the 24th, the People Power Party to Hold a Public Participation Confirmation Hearing for Prosecutor General Candidate Park Beom-gye

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, is speaking at the public participation confirmation hearing for the nominee for Minister of Justice, Park Beom-gye, held at the National Assembly main building in Yeouido, Seoul on the 24th. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Bo-ryeong] One day before the confirmation hearing for Park Beom-gye, the nominee for Minister of Justice, the People Power Party launched a separate verification process. This was because the ruling party refused to adopt witnesses related to various allegations against nominee Park during the hearing.

On the afternoon of the 24th, the People Power Party held a "People-Participatory Confirmation Hearing for the Verification of Park Beom-gye, Minister of Justice Nominee" at the National Assembly.

At the event, Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, said, "The confirmation hearing is an official act to verify the morality, qualifications, and policy capabilities of high-ranking officials responsible for state affairs," adding, "The confirmation hearing should be thoroughly verified to determine suitability, but the Democratic Party government, citing its majority seats, has submitted insufficient materials and refused to adopt witnesses, turning the hearing into a mere formality. Although this administration has committed many wrongdoings, among them, undermining the confirmation hearing system will remain a representative example of accumulated evils or poor governance."

Floor leader Joo continued, "Nominee Park faces so many allegations including deliberate omission in public official asset declarations, traffic law violations, assault, abuse of power remarks, and controversies over gender awareness that it is difficult to list them all," and said, "The People Power Party applied to have witnesses for a thorough verification of nominee Park, but the Democratic Party, relying on numerical superiority, has completely blocked the adoption of even a single witness, attempting to hold a powerless confirmation hearing. If nominee Park is confident, the Democratic Party should adopt witnesses and clarify matters at the hearing. I do not understand what they fear to reject even one witness."

Lee Jong-bae, representative of the Association of Examinees for the Preservation of the Judicial Examination, stated, "Nominee Park clearly lied. He has caused irreparable damage to the honor and dignity of examinees," emphasizing, "We strongly regret that the Democratic Party deprived us of the opportunity to speak the truth before the public."

Earlier, the Association of Examinees for the Preservation of the Judicial Examination claimed that in 2016, when they went to appeal for the preservation of the judicial exam to nominee Park, a member was assaulted by him. In response, nominee Park denied this, claiming he was the one almost assaulted.

Kim Do-eup, the People Power Party whip on the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, said, "We repeatedly requested witnesses and reference persons related to the confirmation hearing from the Democratic Party side. Nevertheless, to protect nominee Park, who is under various illegal and misconduct allegations, they did not accept a single witness or reference person," adding, "Representative Lee Jong-bae should rightfully report nominee Park’s misconduct and illegality candidly to the public at tomorrow’s confirmation hearing. It is regrettable that today, at the people-participatory hearing, we had to report the reality to you all."

The National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold the confirmation hearing for nominee Park on the 25th.

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