Park Jumin "Defense Minister Replacement Over Investigation Pressure Allegations? Covering Up the Tail"

Democratic Party Rep. Park Jumin MBC Radio Interview
"Party decision at caucus... Impeachment motion to be proposed around next week"

The Democratic Party of Korea has announced that it will officially push for the impeachment of Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop, with Democratic Party lawmaker Park Joo-min stating, "There is still time and opportunity to carry out the impeachment."

Park, who is the head of the party's Marine Corps Sergeant Death Incident Fact-Finding Task Force (TF), appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' on the 12th and said, "Just because a cabinet reshuffle is announced now does not mean the minister will be immediately replaced."

Park also stated that even if the government announces a cabinet reshuffle today and Minister Lee becomes a 'minister with a fixed term,' they will still push for impeachment. He explained that if the impeachment motion is proposed and passed in the National Assembly plenary session, the minister's position will be suspended, and he cannot be dismissed until the impeachment trial results are out.

Im Hoseon and Park Jumin, members of the Task Force for Fact-Finding on the Death in the Line of Duty of the late Corporal Chae Su-geun of the Democratic Party, along with Ji Sang-rok, Chairman of the Youth Committee of the Gyeongnam Provincial Party, are speaking as they enter the Civil Complaints Office of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Department in Gwacheon on the 5th to file a complaint against Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop and others for abuse of authority and obstruction of rights. Photo by Yonhap News

He said, "The government's current stance is not that the (Defense Ministry command line) did something wrong and is being held responsible and replaced," adding, "On the contrary, they say it was done well, which directly contradicts the part where we see the minister as having some responsibility." He continued, "Minister Lee Jong-seop himself would be in a state of suspension from duty, and in that state, he cannot step down from his position."

Regarding the schedule for proposing the impeachment motion, he predicted, "Today, we will go through the procedure of setting the party's official stance through a party meeting. If the decision to proceed is made at today's meeting, it will likely be around next week."

On the background for pushing for Minister Lee's impeachment, he said, "We did not talk about impeachment of the Defense Minister from the beginning. But now, there are talks about replacing the Second Deputy Director of the National Security Office and the Defense Secretary, as well as the Defense Minister and Deputy Minister."

He added, "Coincidentally, these people are all involved in the command line related to the external pressure on Sergeant Chae Soo-geun," and criticized, "From our perspective, this is an attempt to cover up the tail."

Park emphasized that the core reason for pushing the impeachment is the external pressure related to the death of the late Marine Sergeant Chae Soo-geun.

He pointed out, "Based on several occasions where we confirmed through government questioning or questions in the relevant standing committee, and the recent reports that continue to come out, the minister, despite having no authority and not supposed to do so, was involved in exerting external pressure related to the Sergeant Chae Soo-geun case?such as instructing not to transfer the case or to reduce some of the involved personnel during the transfer. That itself is an illegal act."

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