People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik speaks at a general assembly of lawmakers held at the National Assembly on Thursday to select candidates for standing committee chairpersons for the second half of the 22nd National Assembly. [Yonhap]
People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik speaks at a general assembly of lawmakers held at the National Assembly on Thursday to select candidates for standing committee chairpersons for the second half of the 22nd National Assembly. [Yonhap]

People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik on Saturday called Justice Minister Jeong Seong-ho's recent offer to resign — which President Lee Jae Myung rejected — "the opening shot of the Lee government's lame-duck era."

In a Facebook post, Jeong said that taken together, the minister's resignation offer and remarks by the vice minister of justice before the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee made clear that the government favors a cautious approach to supplementary investigative powers. "Yet President Lee, far from reining in the ruling party's extreme push to abolish supplementary investigative powers, is merely watching the Democratic Party hardliners and being dragged along by their will," he said.

Jeong added that Lee is likely acting this way because he needs the support of Democratic Party hardliners to secure the withdrawal of criminal charges against him. "Ultimately, the Democratic Party's adoption of abolishing supplementary investigative powers as official party policy amounts to a defeat for the government and a total victory for the hardliners," he said.

Justice Minister Jeong Seong-ho listens to questions from staff at a talk concert with the minister held at the Government Gwacheon Complex in Gyeonggi Province on Thursday. [Yonhap]
Justice Minister Jeong Seong-ho listens to questions from staff at a talk concert with the minister held at the Government Gwacheon Complex in Gyeonggi Province on Thursday. [Yonhap]

On the minister's resignation offer, the floor leader said he "highly commends the minister's attitude of upholding his responsibility and convictions." Jeong Seong-ho submitted his resignation to President Lee on Friday, after the Democratic Party adopted as its official position a revision to the Criminal Procedure Act that would comprehensively ban prosecutors from conducting direct investigations.

Jeong Jeom-sik contrasted the minister's conduct with that of other officials, saying Jeong Seong-ho had shown "a sense of responsibility worthy of emulation as a public servant." He said that stood in contrast to Presidential Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom, who turned the Kospi into "a gambling den with the unprecedented record of 10 consecutive trading halts" without taking responsibility, and Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back, who is pushing ahead with a military academy merger against public opinion while failing to resolve allegations that he went absent without leave.

PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok also weighed in on Saturday, writing on Facebook that the minister's resignation offer represented "the last conscience of someone who witnessed a crime scene." "Dismantling the prosecution will inevitably lead to the dismantling of the administration," Jang wrote. "By then, nothing will be able to 'supplement' what has been lost."


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