Choo Mi-ae: "The Candlelight Citizens Protected Me" vs Kim Jong-min: "Stop Attacking the Party"

Former Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae, a preliminary candidate in the Democratic Party presidential primary. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Former Minister of Justice and Democratic Party presidential candidate Chu Mi-ae engaged in a heated debate on the sincerity of prosecutorial reform with Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Jong-min, who was a Supreme Council member during her tenure as minister, on the 19th.

In a post on her Facebook that day, former Minister Chu stated, "The Ministry of Justice minister who never wavered for even a moment or an inch in the prosecutorial reform, which was the mission of the Candlelight Movement, was supported and not left lonely by the Candlelight citizens," adding, "It is a serious distortion of memory to claim that Supreme Council member Kim, acting under the orders of Representative Lee Nak-yeon, kept the minister from wavering."

She questioned Kim, saying, "Is this hegemonic politics where, as the chief Supreme Council member, you failed to persuade the party leader who raised the issues of speed control and premature timing, and now recklessly insist that you have done enough for the minister?"

Earlier, on the 18th, Kim had said during the 'Final Debate on Prosecutorial Reform' with former Representative Lee on the YouTube channel 'Lee Nak-yeon TV,' "When there is a primary, candidates check and attack each other, but every time the question 'What did the previous leadership do?' comes up, it makes me uncomfortable."

Kim Jong-min, Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party of Korea.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

In response to former Minister Chu's remarks, Kim immediately issued a clarification. Through his Facebook that day, he opened by saying, "I saw candidate Chu's post. I hesitated because I was worried it would appear as a trivial internal party conflict, which is not good, but since there are many statements that differ from the facts, I must speak."

He said, "Candidate Chu claims that she fought hard for prosecutorial reform but was not supported by the party. That is not true," and criticized, "After the general election victory, the justification for prosecutorial reform, such as the establishment of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials and the adjustment of investigative authority between the police and prosecution, was strong. However, following the second half of the National Assembly audit, support for the Democratic Party and prosecutorial reform declined."

He continued, "There may be various reasons. At that time, many lawmakers within the party criticized that candidate Chu's remarks worsened public opinion regardless of the essence of prosecutorial reform," adding, "However, the party leadership made efforts until the end to ensure that Minister Chu would not be hurt."

Kim also said, "I did not fully agree with candidate Chu's remarks and response methods. However, the consistent will of the leadership at that time was to prevent candidate Chu from being hurt," emphasizing, "I cannot accept attacking the party by saying 'Chu Mi-ae fought hard, but the party did not properly support her.'"

Furthermore, he concluded his post by saying, "I hope the party is not attacked with statements that differ from the facts. You may think candidate Chu's intention is to attack candidate Lee Nak-yeon personally. However, candidate Chu's actual claim is an attack on the party that supported her during difficult times."

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