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Justice Minister Cho Kuk and Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl
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Prosecutors deny stories of Yoon Seok-youl challenging Moon’s powers of appointment
Shortly before Cho Kuk was appointed Minister of Justice, Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl indicated to the Blue House that Choi shouldn’t be appointed because of the complicated scandal he was facing and that Yoon would tender his resignation if Cho was appointed anyway, the Hankyoreh has learned. President Moon Jae-in was grappling with the question of whether to appoint Cho when he received Yoon’s message, which apparently struck the president as insubordination and influenced his ultimate decision to go ahead with the appointment. The prosecutors strongly denied the claim, which they dismissed as a “scheme by politicians” to obstruct their investigation into Cho and his family. Multiple sources in the ruling Democratic Party told the Hankyoreh on Sept. 30 that Yoon contacted Blue House Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Kim Jo-won on Sept. 7, the day after Moon returned from a six-day tour of Southeast Asia. Sources said that Yoon made the following remarks to Kim: “The charges against Cho Kuk are serious. I’ve communicated my viewpoint to the Blue House through several channels, but it doesn’t look like the president is getting the message. He really needs to be briefed about this. If Cho is appointed, I will be forced to resign.” After receiving Yoon’s message from Kim, Moon reportedly lost his temper. “The president took Yoon’s words as a challenge to his authority to make appointments. Yoon’s message made the president think he wouldn’t be able to carry out prosecutorial reform if he withdrew Cho’s nomination,” said a senior official in the Democratic Party who is well-versed about the situation at the time. A source at the Blue House added some context. “At the time, there was increasing support inside the Blue House for Cho to be dropped from consideration. But because of Yoon’s phone call immediately upon Moon’s return from his overseas trip, he shifted toward favoring Cho’s appointment.” “Recently, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Kang Gi-jung strongly criticized the prosecutors for disclosing Cho’s status as an official suspect. But Yoon had earlier expressed blunt dissatisfaction [with Kang], which is what caused the bad blood between the two of them,” the official said. Even before launching the investigation into allegations about Cho, Yoon had reportedly attempted to convey similar concerns to Moon. “Before the search-and-seizure [that signaled the beginning of the investigation], Yoon had used several channels, including members of the Democratic Party and officials at the Ministry of Justice, to have Moon personally informed that the allegations against Cho’s family weren’t trivial. Yoon’s message was that Cho would likely have to face an investigation if he became the justice minister and that such an investigation would likely have severe ramifications,” said one source in the Democratic Party. After the raid took place, Yoon reportedly told Justice Ministry officials that the scandal engulfing Cho meant he would be investigated if he was appointed Justice Minister, in which case it would be awkward for Yoon to stay in his position. But the prosecutors staunchly denied this narrative. “There’s no truth to the claim that Yoon contacted the senior secretary of civil affairs. It would be absurd for a subordinate to tell his superior whether or not to make an appointment, and Yoon doesn’t even know Kim Jo-won well enough [to contact him like that],” a high-ranking official at the prosecutors told the Hankyoreh over the phone. The official continued: “Yoon didn’t say anything about Cho to anyone, including the Blue House senior secretary of civil affairs or the Justice Ministry, either before or after the raid or before or after the appointment. If you’re going to tell the president he can’t do something, you’ve got to have some undeniable evidence, and not just suspicions, and that wasn’t the case.” During an interpellation session at the National Assembly on Monday, Democratic Party lawmaker Park Hong-geun mentioned hearing that Yoon had threatened to resign if Cho were appointed and asked Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon if he’d heard anything of the sort. “I hope you’ll understand that I’m not able to confirm that,” Lee said in response. Park followed up by saying, “If the story about Yoon’s remarks is true, this could be construed as the prosecutor-general clearly challenging the president’s powers of appointment.” By Kim Won-chul and Lee Wan, staff reporters Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
