"Ministry of Justice and prosecutors in cahoots, shielding president from reality"
"Kim Ji-yong nominee should resign; Han Chan-sik must be held accountable"
Hwang Hyeon-seon, a supreme council member of the Rebuilding Korea Party, on Monday called on Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok to stop criticizing the Rebuilding Korea Party and former party leader Cho Kuk, telling him to "think big when it comes to politics."
Speaking at a supreme council meeting that day, Hwang said the Lee Jae Myung government's approval rating had hit its lowest point since taking office, adding that Kim's election as party leader had produced no convention bounce and that support for both the Democratic Party and the president was falling sharply in tandem.
Hwang then directed his remarks squarely at Kim. "I have a word for Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok, who has been busy day after day mocking and attacking the Rebuilding Korea Party and former leader Cho Kuk," he said. "Think big when it comes to politics."
Hwang also sharpened his criticism of the Lee government's approach to prosecutorial reform and the Cheong Wa Dae civil affairs office. "The Ministry of Justice and the prosecution have become one and the same, blinding and deafening the president," he said, arguing that the civil affairs secretariat must be held accountable for failing to prevent this.
With the launch of a new public prosecution office set for October, Hwang pointed to reports that the existing prosecutor headcount would be maintained and that a so-called "judicial control division" was being floated as a replacement structure. "People who insist on calling it reform — when the substance stays the same and only the nameplate changes — have no place in the civil affairs secretariat," he said. "That kind of cosmetic sleight of hand is designed to preserve prosecutors' grip on investigative power."
He then called for a full overhaul of the civil affairs secretariat. "Anyone who blinds and deafens the president must not serve as civil affairs secretary," Hwang said. "Nominee Kim Ji-yong should step down voluntarily, and Civil Affairs Secretary Han Chan-sik must be held responsible. Make a clean break with the prosecution loyalists through a complete restructuring of the civil affairs secretariat."
Hwang also had pointed words for the so-called "pro-Lee" base. "Does not worshipping the president make you anti-Lee?" he said. "You can support the president and still clearly oppose flawed policies. That is what real democracy looks like."
He went on to say that a true loyalist is someone who speaks up and says "no" when the wrong path is being taken. "Around the president right now, it seems there are only flatterers who drive out honest critics by branding them as traitors, and those who simply stay silent," he said.
Hwang warned that falling approval ratings were not the Lee government's and the Democratic Party's greatest threat. "What you should fear most is the silence of citizens who turn their backs without a word — people who have stopped offering even the most painful honest criticism," he said. "Are you truly 'pro-Lee,' protecting the president, or are you 'pro-excuse,' destroying him?"
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