President Lee Jae-myung pushes ahead with the appointment of Kim Ji-yong as head of the Heavy Water Investigation Service... Conflict over prosecution reform within the ruling party reignites

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Pyeong-cheon and Kim Jeong-jin = As the National Assembly confirmation hearing process for Kim Ji-yong, the candidate for the head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, begins, the conflict within the ruling party surrounding the issue of prosecution reform is once again attracting attention.

President Lee Jae-myung directly refuted the criticism of hard-liners in the ruling party who characterized candidate Kim as a 'pro-Yoon (pro-Yun Seok-yeol) prosecutor' and sent a request for a personnel hearing to the National Assembly, effectively beginning the process of appointing him. However, hard-liners in the ruling party are still voicing skepticism about the appointment.

First of all, there are many analyzes in the ruling party that the justification for the hardliners' claims has been weakened because the Blue House accepted the problem raised by the hardliners, conducted additional verification, and concluded that there was no problem.

President Lee showed his will to break through day after day, saying, "A far-fetched claim that you know to be false is an interference with state affairs" (30th of last month), "If we were to throw away all those who are former prosecutors, Rep. Park Eun-jung of the Fatherland Innovation Party and Rep. Lee Seong-yoon of the Democratic Party of Korea are all former prosecutors, so what would happen to them?" (1st), "Wouldn't it be difficult to at least conclude that they are pro-Yoon?" (2nd).

In light of this, there are predictions that the conflict will move into a consolidative phase. This is because it is not easy for President Lee, who has authority over personnel matters, to continue to oppose it when he has directly expressed his will.

Furthermore, there are expectations within the party that candidate Kim's past 'anti-Yoon actions' and will to reform the prosecution can be confirmed through the hearing.

Previously, Representative Kim Min-seok also pointed out the hardliners' offensive against Candidate Kim as wrong 'framing'.

It is possible that the level of confrontation over prosecution reform between the pro-Myung (pro-Lee Jae-myung) faction and hardliners, which surfaced with President Lee's nomination of Candidate Kim, will be lowered through the hearing.

Recently, writer Yoo Si-min's strong criticism of President Lee's prosecution reform plan, saying he 'deceived the people', has been criticized by many within the ruling party for going too far.

In addition, President Lee's invitation to former representative Chung Cheong-rae, who is considered a representative prosecution reform hardliner, to the Blue House for a four-hour dinner on the 1st is analyzed as a move considering internal integration.

A party official said in a phone call with Yonhap News on the 4th, "I believe that doubts about Candidate Kim can be sufficiently resolved at the hearing," and "All you have to do is listen to Candidate Kim's explanation at the hearing and evaluate it."

Accordingly, there were voices within the party that the differences of opinion surrounding Candidate Kim had been resolved to some extent.

Representative Park Ji-won said on Facebook on the 4th that he exchanged opinions with Representative Kim Young-jin, Chairman of the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee, and Representative Seo Young-kyo, Chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and said, "Rep. Kim Yong-min, known as a so-called hardliner, also opposes, but says he will respect the party's decision."

Rep. Park said, “I propose to call a general meeting, have unlimited discussions, vote, and decide on the party line,” and insisted that the party should speak with one voice through “end debate.”

Rep. Seo also met with reporters at the National Assembly that day and said, "There were many concerns about Candidate Kim," but "many things have been resolved."

He continued, "The President did not immediately send a request for consent to the appointment of (Candidate Kim) to the National Assembly, but the Senior Public Relations Secretary of the President's Office briefed him on the details that had been checked and verified for countless hours. The President made a decision and sent it in a situation where he listened to everything with his ears open, so the National Assembly will take a close look at this."

He emphasized, “The party must follow the example of President Lee and the ruling party.”

However, there are still concerns that internal conflict within the ruling party may grow as the National Assembly personnel hearing process begins in earnest.

This is because there are still doubts among hard-liners on prosecution reform and members of the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee, who will hold the confirmation hearing for candidate Kim, and if candidate Kim does not show sufficient will to reform the prosecution, voices of opposition may grow louder.

Rep. Kim Yong-min, who led the prosecution reform, held a press conference in front of the Seoul Public Prosecutors' Office on the 2nd, when the Public Prosecution Office was launched, and criticized, "The candidate for the head of the Central Investigation Office is a person who has opposed prosecution reform," and "He is a former chief prosecutor who held a press conference opposing the reduction of the prosecution's investigative power and even announced that he would file a request for adjudication of authority disputes."

Representative Park Joo-min, a member of the Public Administration and Security Committee, said on a radio broadcast, "We will see whether the person can uphold the principles and if he is unfit, we will raise our voice to say that (the appointment) is unsuitable."

Rep. Yoon Geon-young, a member of the Public Administration and Security Committee, also appeared on the YouTube channel 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' and said of Candidate Kim's appointment, "I am simply against it. I think we should oppose it. At the final stage, the people must decide. It is up to the president to decide."

Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae also responded to President Lee's point out that Candidate Kim was selected as the chief prosecutor when he was the Minister of Justice, and said, "I confess that my skills in seeing people are poor, and please do not use my selection as the chief prosecutor as a basis for trusting him." He added, "Why do you choose a person who can turn his back on the people and justice at any time as the captain of a ship launched with a mission of reform?"