Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, said the withdrawal of charges against President Lee Jae-myung "will become the trigger for impeachment," criticizing the appointment of Deputy Prosecutor General Lee Jung-hyun as acting prosecutor general.
Jang made the remarks in a Facebook post on the morning of the 24th, saying an acting prosecutor general had been appointed "out of nowhere at a prosecution service on the verge of being dismantled." On his first day at work the previous day, the acting prosecutor general said the possibility of withdrawing the indictment in cases involving the president was something for which "we will have to wait and see the results of the fact-finding investigation." The comment was read as suggesting that a withdrawal of charges could be considered after the Justice Ministry's committee on prosecution human rights and the future releases its findings on cases including the Ssangbangwool illegal fund transfer to North Korea.
Jang also took issue with the acting prosecutor general's past statements. He described him as "a figure who called the entirely legitimate prosecution investigation into the illegal fund transfer to North Korea a 'deeply flawed approach' and who said he wished to 'offer words of atonement,'" calling him "an acting chief for withdrawing charges by anyone's reckoning." He added that it amounted to saying, "Make me head of the prosecution office and I will repay you by withdrawing the charges."
Jang also raised the possibility that the president's trial could resume. "Kim Seung-won, whom they trusted, has been swept away. With approval ratings plunging, there is no one left willing to take the fall," he said. "If the trial resumes, his heart will shrink at the thought of going to prison." He went on to say the president had pledged at a news conference to remove the special counsel's provision on withdrawing charges, adding: "The acting prosecutor general is saying he will repay him with a withdrawal of charges if he is made head of the prosecution office. They are in perfect step."
He also cited polling on the issue. "In trying to erase a crime, they are adding more crimes. In trying to avoid prison, they are only lengthening the sentence," Jang said. "In a recent poll, the withdrawal of charges ranked first among the causes of the drop in approval ratings. It even overtook real estate."
The president approved the appointment of Lee Jung-hyun, head of the Suwon High Prosecutors' Office, as deputy prosecutor general at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the 22nd of this month.
