Jeong Jeomsik: "Agency Chief's Cabinet Attendance a Move to Influence Trials... Grounds for Impeachment"

"President Lee Has Focused on Politically Escaping His Trials"

People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeongsik criticized the attendance of the chiefs of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and the Public Prosecution Office at Cabinet meetings, saying, “There is another purpose behind trying to force the chiefs of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and the Public Prosecution Office to attend Cabinet meetings, even though there are lawful and commonsense means of directing and supervising them. The real aim is to lay the groundwork for directly or indirectly influencing his own trials.”

People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeongsik delivers opening remarks at a meeting on parliamentary audit preparations at the National Assembly on the 23rd.

At a meeting on preparations for parliamentary audits that day, Jeong said, “Yesterday, President Lee Jae-myung said on social media (SNS) that barring the chief of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency from attending Cabinet meetings would violate the Constitution and the law, and that abandoning the agency’s direction and supervision would be grounds for impeachment. If that is the President’s position, should every previous president who did not have the heads of investigative agencies attend Cabinet meetings have been impeached?”

“The President’s direction and supervision does not mean berating people at Cabinet meetings,” Jeong said. “Under the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency Act, a minister can direct specific cases through the agency chief. The President can convey matters related to state affairs through the minister in charge.” He added, “Forcing the agency chief to attend means using Cabinet meetings to openly and continually pressure state agencies,” and criticized the practice as “grounds for impeachment.”

Jeong also said, “For more than 500 days since taking office, President Lee has consistently focused on a political jailbreak to make his five trials disappear.” He added, “From the moment he took office until now, the President has consistently piled one wrongdoing on top of another to cover up his own misdeeds. The tower of wrongdoing he has built will ultimately come crashing down on the President himself.”

Jeong also said that Kim Hyun-ji, chief of the Presidential Office’s First Annex Office, Jung Jin-sang, former director of political affairs coordination at the Democratic Party of Korea, Kang Hoon-sik, former presidential chief of staff, and Kim Yong-beom, former policy chief at the Presidential Office, should be called as witnesses at next week’s parliamentary audit of the Presidential Office. “The more the Democratic Party struggles to keep the four from appearing before the National Assembly, the more it will be shunned by the public,” Jeong said.

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