Yoon's office sues opposition for making false accusations

Choi Sang-mok, deputy prime minister and acting president, speaks during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. (Yonhap)
Choi Sang-mok, deputy prime minister and acting president, speaks during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. (Yonhap)

The Democratic Party of Korea is pushing for a criminal investigation of Choi Sang-mok, the deputy prime minister who became acting president less than two weeks ago, over investigative authorities' failed attempt to arrest suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The Democratic Party filed a criminal complaint with the police Tuesday against Choi, accusing him of negligence and dereliction of duty for not working with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials to arrest Yoon last week.

The CIO and the police aborted their attempt to arrest Yoon Friday after a five-hour standoff with the president’s guards and a wall of protesters there to protect the president at the presidential compound in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul.

The Democratic Party argues that Choi should have facilitated the CIO’s arrest attempt and ordered the presidential guards to make way as the investigators and police tried to arrest Yoon.

Democratic Party floor leader Rep. Park Chan-dae said Tuesday that Choi “allowed lawlessness to prevail by taking no action against the presidential guards who were obstructing justice.”

In a press conference on the criminal complaint against Choi on Tuesday, Rep. Kim Min-seok, who sits on the Democratic Party’s Supreme Council, said his party “can no longer sit idly by as acting President Choi turns a blind eye to what is going on, letting acts of insurrection continue.”

The Democratic Party has characterized Yoon’s short-lived declaration of martial law on Dec. 3 as insurrection, and passed the motion to impeach the president on those grounds.

“We urge the law enforcement to embark on an investigation of acting President Choi as promptly as possible,” Kim said.

The Democratic Party said it does not yet plan to impeach Choi, as previously warned.

According to Rep. Park Kyoon-taek, who is on the National Assembly Judiciary Committee, the Democratic Party does not think the Cabinet officials next in line to be acting president after Choi would be “any more of an ally” in the investigation of Yoon. “Impeaching acting President Choi is not going to be a solution at this stage,” the lawmaker told The Korea Herald.

Instead, the Democratic Party has threatened to impeach Oh Dong-woon, the chief prosecutor of the CIO, and even abolish the investigation agency itself in the event of another failure to arrest Yoon.

The CIO was formed during the previous Moon Jae-in administration, in a bid to create another body to investigate corruption-related crimes aside from prosecutors.

In addition to Choi, the Democratic Party also filed criminal complaints against five senior officials at the Yoon presidential office, including National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik, for allegedly colluding in insurrection.

The Yoon office immediately hit back by suing the Democratic Party for making false accusations. None of the five officials were involved in the president's imposition of martial law, the office claimed.

The ruling People Power Party on Tuesday slammed the Democratic Party for resorting to “an endless impeachment spree” against Yoon officials.

Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, the People Power Party floor leader, told reporters that Choi not aiding the CIO’s arrest of Yoon likely did not constitute a crime.

“The Democratic Party impeached the president, and then also impeached the acting president. Now they are trying to seek a criminal investigation of the country’s second acting president in less than a month,” he said.

“The Democratic Party has gotten into a habit of impeaching and filing criminal complaints against officials. That party clearly has no interest in stabilizing the country and getting the economy back on track.”

The National Assembly is set to vote on a motion to launch a special counsel investigation of Yoon’s martial law declaration. The special counsel investigation would take place on top of the investigation being handled by the CIO and a parliamentary investigation that kicked off Dec. 31.


arin@heraldcorp.com