People Power Party Floor Leader Jeong Jeom-sik hit back Tuesday at justice minister nominee Kim Seung-won after Kim said he would consider filing a petition to dissolve the PPP as an unconstitutional party, telling him to go ahead if he dared.
Speaking at a floor strategy meeting at the National Assembly on Tuesday, Jeong said Kim's remarks were "a cheap trick to shift the frame to a partisan confrontation because he cannot explain away his own disqualifying conduct."
Jeong said Kim's alleged misconduct went far beyond a false address registration and a drunk-driving offense, citing what he called bizarre allegations including a romantic lobbying scandal, involvement in stock price manipulation and a family cooperative scheme. "He is unfit not only to serve as minister but even to sit as a lawmaker," Jeong said.
Turning to the Democratic Party of Korea's defense of the nominee, Jeong said, "Who asked anyone to bring in a saint and have him appointed minister?" He added that a justice minister of South Korea should at minimum be free of shameless criminal allegations, whereas new scandals surrounding Kim seemed to pour out endlessly overnight.
Jeong said the reason President Lee Jae Myung and the Democratic Party were pushing so hard for Kim despite the mounting allegations was plain to see. "He is an 'oppa' — an older brother figure — who rubber-stamps even illicit requests for new drug approvals," Jeong said. "Imagine how readily he would comply if President Lee ordered him to drop charges meant to hold Lee accountable."
Jeong warned that the more President Lee struggled to escape legal accountability, the more trials he would ultimately face. He added that if Lee pressed ahead with the appointment without withdrawing Kim's nomination, his 30 percent approval rating would fall to 20 percent, and what was already a lame-duck presidency would become a dead duck.
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