Regarding the Yoon Seok-yeol Mother-in-law Case... Ruling Party's 'Fierce Attack' vs. Opposition's 'Shielding'

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Bo-ryeong] As the mother-in-law of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol was sentenced to imprisonment in the first trial, the ruling party launched fierce attacks, calling the series of events an "incomprehensible situation," while the opposition party defended former Yoon by mentioning the "prohibition of collateral punishment."

On the morning of the 5th, Park Joo-min, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, appeared on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" and responded to the host's question, "Should we see that there were problems in the previous investigation related to former Prosecutor General Yoon's mother-in-law?" by saying, "It's actually strange," and added, "After reading the verdict, there were various circumstances detailed that could not be overlooked without raising issues."

In particular, Park focused on whether former Prosecutor General Yoon, who was part of the prosecution at the time, exerted influence over the initiation and conclusion of the investigation. Park explained, "The initiation and conclusion of the investigation had to be conducted entirely under the involvement and interference of the prosecution, and seizures or searches were natural. Even the investigation process, including those, was almost under the prosecution's interference, which is why many people are suspicious," and added, "We need to examine what kind of influence he actually had within the prosecution and what kind of networking he maintained." He emphasized that they plan to "gradually verify" the relationship between the responsible prosecutor and former Prosecutor General Yoon.

On the other hand, Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, on the same radio program, retorted, "If the ruling party is going to talk like this about the first trial result of former Prosecutor General Yoon's mother-in-law, then later we will see how strictly the Democratic Party responds if their own candidate has a criminal record." This was an indirect criticism of Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, who is leading the ruling party's presidential candidate approval ratings and has a criminal record.

He also advocated for the "prohibition of collateral punishment." Lee said, "Former Prosecutor General Yoon responded that if his mother-in-law did something wrong according to the law, she should be punished," and added, "Article 13, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution clearly prohibits collateral punishment. There is no need to be so sensitive about the Constitution. If I may say, the call to prohibit collateral punishment in the presidential election was first raised by the Democratic Party in the past." Article 13, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution states, "All citizens shall not be subjected to disadvantageous treatment due to the actions of their relatives that are not their own."

Furthermore, Lee expressed that there is no significant problem between this incident and former Prosecutor General Yoon's entry into the People Power Party. He said, "This (the first trial result of the mother-in-law) is not a disqualification reason. If the people judge so, the approval rating will be high, and then it does not become a problem for elected public officials or party membership qualifications," and added, "According to the party membership qualifications of the People Power Party, one can join unless they have committed one of the six major heinous crimes."

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