President Lee Jae-myung directly rejected claims that Kim Ji-yong, his nominee to head the new Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, is a pro-Yoon prosecutor, prompting Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae to push back in turn. Choo stressed that she had worked with Kim firsthand as justice minister, saying it was her "duty to tell people what they should be wary of."
Writing on Facebook on the 1st, Choo said she had once visited a restaurant on a recommendation that it was a good place to eat. "But once I looked inside, the hygiene was a mess and the staff were unfriendly. The ingredients and the taste were both poor," she wrote. "After learning that the sign outside differed from what was actually inside, I could not recommend the place to others," she added. "I thought it was right, at least for the people I care about, to tell them what I had seen and stop them from suffering the same disappointment."
"It is the same with people," she continued. "I believe it is a duty for someone who has experienced it directly to tell others what they should be wary of." Her remarks amounted to saying that she regretted appointing Kim as a chief prosecutor after he was recommended to her.
A day earlier, Lee had personally rebutted arguments from parts of the ruling bloc that labeled Kim a pro-Yoon prosecutor. Lee noted that while Kim served as head of the criminal division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office when Yoon Suk-yeol was prosecutor general, he ordered a reinvestigation into a case involving alleged subornation of perjury by Choi Eun-soon, the mother-in-law of the former prosecutor general. "Setting everything else aside, it is hard to accept criticism of such a person simply because he is called a pro-Yoon prosecutor," Lee said.
Lee specifically pointed out that Kim had been promoted to chief prosecutor while Choo was justice minister. With Choo having opposed the nomination on the basis of Kim's past record, Lee countered by citing a personnel decision made during her own tenure. Lee also cited the fact that Kim was demoted under the Yoon administration and later left the prosecution service as evidence inconsistent with the pro-Yoon label.
The dispute over Kim has already escalated into an open clash between the Democratic Party leadership and Choo. After Choo criticized Lee over the nomination, Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok publicly rebuked her, saying the situation resembled "the early signs of the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun." The two have since clashed publicly over other matters as well, including Gyeonggi Province's election consulting costs and the budget for the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival.
The party leader again came to Lee's defense on the same day. Speaking on the Democratic Party's YouTube channel "Minty07," Kim said of Lee's decision to address the controversy himself: "He appears to believe that a clear explanation is needed when the framing continues even after he has explained that it is not the case."
