Ruling party criticizes President Lee Jae-myung's remarks on trials as 'worst arrogance'

SEOUL (Yonhap News Agency) -- Jang Dong-hyuk, the senior standing election committee chairman of the People Power Party, on Tuesday criticized President Lee Jae-myung's remarks to prosecutors to "apologize and cancel if you make a mistake," claiming it was an "explicit threat" to order the prosecution to drop his trial.

"This is an explicit threat to drop your trial, and you are not even looking at the public's eyes anymore, which is the worst arrogance," Jang said at the last central election committee meeting held at the National Assembly.

Regarding President Lee's remarks at a Cabinet meeting the previous day that prosecutors should "not fall into the trap of infallibility," Jang said, "Isn't Lee Jae-myung himself the worst troublemaker who has destroyed the judicial order and thrown South Korea into systemic error? Lee Jae-myung himself is an error in South Korea."

Jang claimed, "Lee Jae-myung blatantly trampled on the duty of neutrality in the presidential election and traveled the country campaigning. He took out his marked ballot from the polling station and waved it in front of the camera," adding, "Every night, he incited people to vote for the Democratic Party under the guise of encouraging voting."

He continued, "Each and every one of these is a serious illegal act that constitutes grounds for impeachment. It is extreme arrogance that no one can touch me because the government, the National Assembly, and the judiciary are all in my hands."

He also said, "Some media outlets were mentioned as being like 'party organs,' and even faced disadvantages in license renewal and re-authorization. He threatened to shut them down with my own hands if they don't report favorably to Lee's faction as ordered," adding, "Has there ever been a more arrogant president in the history of the South Korean constitution? The people must check and block him."