Lee Jae-myung: "Lee Jong-seop's Resignation is 'Scapegoating'... Thorough Fact-Finding Through Special Prosecutor Law"

"Defense Minister Impeachment, Democratic Party's Official Stance Push, Former Resignation Declaration"
"Cannot Evade Legal and Moral Responsibility Even If Trying to Hide"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized the resignation of Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop, who was about to be impeached over allegations of external pressure in the investigation of the death of Marine Corporal Chae, calling it a "scapegoating" on the 13th.

In a statement distributed to the media that day, Lee said, "When the Democratic Party tried to set the impeachment of the Defense Minister as the party's official stance, Minister Lee immediately expressed his intention to resign," adding, "No matter how much they try to hide it, they can never escape legal and moral responsibility."

Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop is responding to a lawmaker's question during the government inquiry session at the National Assembly plenary meeting held on the 6th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

The Democratic Party planned to continue discussions on the impeachment of Minister Lee at the parliamentary meeting on the 14th, following the meeting on the 12th, and to propose the 'Impeachment Motion against the Minister of National Defense' as the party's official stance. However, with the news of Minister Lee's resignation expressed the previous morning, the Democratic Party's impeachment move was put on hold for the time being. If the resignation is accepted even today, the impeachment push will be impossible. The Democratic Party sharpened its criticism, saying that Minister Lee's resignation was an attempt to cover up external pressure in the investigation of Corporal Chae's death. At the same time, they vowed to continue pushing forward with the special investigation law to uncover the truth behind the external pressure in the Corporal Chae case, regardless of Minister Lee's resignation.

Leader Lee also emphasized, "Since the special investigation law has been proposed, the Democratic Party will thoroughly investigate those involved and definitely reveal the truth."

He pointed out, "The testimony of Colonel Park, who said, 'If we punish even the division commander for such an incident, who would want to be a division commander?' directly recalls President Yoon Seok-yeol’s words during the Itaewon tragedy, saying, 'Responsibility should be clearly asked of those who are responsible, and it is impossible to vaguely hold everyone responsible.'"

He continued, "The families of the military death victims say, 'If the state does not take responsibility for this incident, mothers no longer need to raise their children to fulfill military service obligations,' and asked, 'In front of the 'unjust death of Corporal Chae,' who became a cold corpse just four months after enlistment, which parent would send their child to the South Korean military?'"

Leader Lee criticized, "Nevertheless, the Yoon Seok-yeol administration is only focused on 'scapegoating' by replacing the Minister of National Defense and the security line," and stressed, "There are no sacred zones in revealing the truth."

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