(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Oh Kyu-jin and Jeong Yeon-sol = The ruling and opposition parties fought over the absence of Justice Minister Jeong Sung-ho at the general meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly on the 21st.
Minister Chung did not attend the meeting that day, citing health reasons, and Vice Minister of Justice Lee Jin-soo attended the meeting on his behalf and conducted a business report.
In response, Rep. Park Hyung-soo of the People Power Party, the opposition party's secretary, criticized, saying, "I am very sorry that the Minister of Justice did not attend," and added, "Is it the attitude of the Minister of Justice to not fulfill his responsibilities after submitting his resignation? I cannot understand it."
Rep. Park then said to Seo Young-kyo, chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea, "You should have first explained why the minister did not appear, why (the chairman of the judiciary committee) allowed it, and why the Vice Minister gave the business report greeting. It is not appropriate. Measures should be taken to allow the minister to attend."
Regarding Minister Jeong's resignation letter, Rep. Kwak Gyu-taek of the same party said, "After the Democratic Party National Convention, new leadership was decided and the mission became clear. The indictment against President Lee Jae-myung was canceled," and raised suspicions, "There are stories that (Minister Jeong) is trying to resign quickly to avoid taking responsibility for the indictment cancellation."
In response, Chairman Seo Young-kyo said, "I also called (Minister Jeong) directly," and explained, "He said he couldn't come because the headache was so severe and the pain was so bad, so today's (meeting) is about reviewing the financial statements, and (the proxy's attendance) was approved for that."
Chairman Seo counter-attacked the People Power Party members' protest by saying, "I understand that you have spoken sufficiently to Secretary Park Hyeong-soo and the People Power Party. You should not make personal offensive remarks as if there was something going on in the Chairman's proceedings."
Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Seung-won, the ruling party's secretary, also defended Chairman Seo, saying, "I think it is right for the Minister of Justice to attend," but also, "I think the minister's absence from attendance today was permitted and understood because he was judged not to be suitable for the situation."
Meanwhile, pan-ruling judicial committee members from the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of Korea, and the Progressive Party held a press conference at the National Assembly on this day and urged Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, who, contrary to previous practice, submitted a written recommendation for the appointment of a Supreme Court Justice, to resign.
They criticized, "Chief Justice Cho respected Yoon Seok-yeol's right to appoint, but ignored President Lee's right to appoint. 'A rare double standard.'"
He then requested rejection of the recommendation, saying, "We should not be dragged into the slander by Cho Hee-dae, who was appointed by rebellion leader Yoon Seok-yeol and is seeking to revive Yoon Seok-yeol. The Blue House must review all means permitted by the Constitution and law to protect the president's legitimate right to appoint."
