'No reason to push for withdrawal of charges when dismissal is an option'

Proposes amending false-statement election law, Ministry of Justice probe

Demands Democratic Party apology before merger talks with Rebuilding Korea Party

Says Lee's approval slide shows he has 'lost both sides'

Cho Kuk, director of the Rebuilding Korea Party's innovation policy research institute, speaks at a policy forum on strategies for the Honam semiconductor cluster held at MSL in Buk-gu, Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, on Thursday. [Rebuilding Korea Party]
Cho Kuk, director of the Rebuilding Korea Party's innovation policy research institute, speaks at a policy forum on strategies for the Honam semiconductor cluster held at MSL in Buk-gu, Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, on Thursday. [Rebuilding Korea Party]

Cho Kuk, director of the Rebuilding Korea Party's innovation policy research institute, pushed back Monday against criticism from the ruling camp, saying many people were wrongly casting him as someone who wants President Lee Jae Myung convicted.

"There seem to be a lot of strange people trying to paint me as someone who wants a guilty verdict against President Lee Jae Myung," Cho said on the YouTube program "Kim Eui-joon's Humility Is Hard News Factory." "I cannot help but think it is deliberate misreading. It is truly unfortunate."

Cho was responding to criticism from the ruling camp over recent remarks he made on Facebook regarding Lee's trial on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act's prohibition on making false statements. In that post, Cho wrote that "unless the Supreme Court's legal reasoning is overturned again, there is a very high likelihood of a guilty verdict being handed down in the second trial, which will resume after President Lee's term ends," and warned that pushing for a withdrawal of charges against Lee "would inevitably result in political and legal setbacks."

Cho said the underlying problem was the false-statement provision of the Public Official Election Act itself. "The Democratic Party and the Rebuilding Korea Party have agreed on an amendment to the false-statement provision, and it is before the plenary session," he said. "If that is put to a vote, the court must issue a dismissal ruling regardless of whether the trial is at the second-instance stage or anywhere else."

He added that cases involving clear fabricated indictments should proceed to charge withdrawal, while the current case — remanded back to a lower court — should be resolved through dismissal given the flawed false-statement provision. "There is no reason to hold onto that and talk about withdrawing charges," he said.

Turning to the Democratic Party lawmakers' group pushing for charge withdrawal, Cho said lawmakers should not be running public petition drives. He proposed a two-track approach alongside the amendment to the false-statement provision, calling for swift action through a Ministry of Justice probe, an investigation by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, and a special prosecutor once one is established.

On a potential merger between the Democratic Party and the Rebuilding Korea Party, Cho said a formal apology from the Democratic Party was a prerequisite. "Restoring trust between the two parties — and between their supporters — must come first," he said. He demanded apologies for what he described as ideological attacks labeling Rebuilding Korea Party policies such as land publicization as "socialist," as well as for what he called a lie that he and former Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae had struck a secret deal.

On proposals to establish a formal body to discuss the merger, Cho was skeptical. "Creating an institutional body within the party does not make a merger happen," he said. "If the two parties rush toward a merger through such a body without first taking steps to restore trust, it will only leave party members and the public with a bad impression of the whole thing devolving into a fight over shares."

On the slide in President Lee's approval rating, Cho said Lee needed to address the public directly. "Is it right, in pursuit of the goal of expanding toward the center, to divide the traditional progressive base or turn certain groups within it into enemies?" he said. "Ultimately, the people who built the Lee Jae Myung government have been split apart, while those who came from the right have drifted away — he has lost both sides."


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