Choo Mi-ae: "Yoon Seok-yeol Has Essentially Deceived the Judiciary"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] On the 4th, former Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae, a ruling party presidential candidate, commented on the sentencing and court imprisonment of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol's mother-in-law for fraudulent benefits, saying that the past court decision to dismiss his disciplinary action was "no different from Yoon Seok-yeol effectively deceiving the judiciary."

At the Democratic Party preliminary primary public interview event held at the CJB Convention Center in Cheongju that day, former Minister Chu said regarding the dismissal of the disciplinary action against former Prosecutor General Yoon, which she had pushed for during her tenure as minister, "The court said that community service cannot be definitively considered political, but the judiciary's judgment at that time was too hasty."

She added, "At that time, he clearly engaged in activities comparable to political activities to increase his own visibility by meeting major media owners and using special activity funds."

When asked about President Moon Jae-in's apology after the dismissal of the disciplinary action, she said, "I also feel responsible for that," but emphasized, "The investigation of the then Prosecutor General was inevitable as the abuse of prosecutorial power and protection of insiders had reached its peak, and as the supervisory authority, it was unavoidable."

Regarding the situation at the time when she withdrew her resignation after the so-called 'Chu-Yoon (Chu Mi-ae-Yoon Seok-yeol) conflict,' she said, "The media excessively framed it as a conflict, so I thought it would be better to bring in a successor minister and expressed my intention to resign," adding, "The president also said that this itself was a model case of supervision under a democratic process, and praised the minister's significant contribution to the adjustment of investigative authority between the police and prosecution as well as the establishment of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. The president was also regretful."

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