Yoo Ihn-tae, “Then why did President Yoon serve as prosecutor general under an anti-state government?”

Yoo Ihn-tae, former secretary-general of the National Assembly, gives a lecture on the theme, “Is Politics in South Korea All Right as It Is?” at Gungmin Gonggam (national consensus), a study group in the People Power Party, at the Members Office Building in the National Assembly on May 9. Yonhap News

On June 29, Yoo Ihn-tae, former secretary-general of the National Assembly, asked President Yoon Suk-yeol, who referred to the Moon Jae-in government as an “anti-state power,” “Then why did he serve in a key position as prosecutor general under an anti-state government?”

Yoo appeared on Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show on CBS radio Thursday and asked the question after saying, “President Yoon didn’t just cross the line, he went too far. He shouldn’t have said that. It feels like he is being seized more and more by the far right.”

The former secretary-general of the National Assembly said, “When President Yoon first entered politics, he said that he did not belong to any side.” He argued, “The best thing that President Yoon did in the past year was take the incumbent legislators and visit the May 18th National Cemetery in Mangwol-dong, Gwangju and the Jeju April 3 event (in memory of the victims), but I don’t think he’ll go anymore.”

Yoo continued to argue that given the fact that the president appointed people with extreme tendencies to lead the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Kim Kwang-dong) and the Police Development Commission (Park In-hwan), he felt like the president was being sucked into the far right. He argued, “If he (President Yoon) was going to handle things this way, then why did he punish the People Power Party’s Supreme Council member, Kim Jae-won (who opposed stating the ‘spirit of May 18’ in the preamble of the Constitution)? He should have commended him.” Kim Kwang-dong argued that the North Korean military was involved in the May 18 pro-democracy movement. Park In-hwan stirred controversy after claiming that former President Moon Jae-in was a spy in a debate at the National Assembly on Tuesday.

When asked about the possibility of former justice minister, Cho Kuk, making a bid in next year’s parliamentary elections, Yoo answered, “I don’t think he’ll run.” As for the likelihood of Cho establishing a new political party, Yoo brushed the idea aside saying, “White herons (people who claim to be loyal) can’t create a new party. Yeouido is full of crows (disloyal people), and the people who claim to be white herons can’t establish a new party.”

Yoo Ihn-tae also shared his dark forecast for the Democratic Party in the next parliamentary elections and said, “If they are divided into the so-called pro-Myung (Lee Jae-myung supporters) and the non-Myung (members who do not support Lee), they will end up a dysfunctional family.” At the same time, he added, “If Lee Jae-myung and former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon (Lee Nak-yeon) meet and manage to let go of their grudges and build trust, then things will go well.”