People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok on Thursday sharply criticized President Lee Jae Myung for saying he had not read the revised Code of Criminal Procedure, calling the remarks "an outpouring of unprecedented outrageous statements."
Speaking at a PPP supreme council meeting at the National Assembly, Jang said the president was making such remarks so casually that "the public can barely tell they are outrageous at all." He added that more than 60 percent of the public opposes the abolition of the supplementary investigation authority, and that the victim of the Busan kicking assault had created a new account on X, formerly Twitter, to post a heartfelt plea urging the president not to scrap the authority.
Jang said he was curious about "the mental world of President Lee Jae Myung," comparing the situation to asking whether the current president was former President Syngman Rhee.
On Wednesday, President Lee made the remarks during a briefing by the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Government Legislation, saying: "I haven't read the revised Code of Criminal Procedure, so I'm asking — does the bill actually say prosecutors are prohibited from conducting investigations?"
Jang said Lee's comments showed "the face of an irresponsible president evading accountability for fear of becoming a sinner in history." He went on to say that the remarks reflected either a "I only care about myself" attitude — as seen in Lee's alleged effort to squeeze out every last won when selling a house for 2.9 billion won ($2.04 million) — or an acknowledgment that the revised bill should never have been passed in the first place.
Jang also predicted that the Lee administration would collapse "at the speed of light." He said Justice Minister Jeong Seong-ho had described the revision as having been passed at the speed of light, and argued that if the Lee administration and the Democratic Party had pushed through the revision at such speed, and if the president had not even read the text of the law, "the administration will ultimately collapse at the speed of light."
On the proposed merger of military academies, Jang said "another round of unprecedented outrageous statements has emerged." He said the Ministry of National Defense briefing had suggested that merging the academies could reduce the risk of a coup, and argued that while North Korea was widening tactical roads along the MDL and advancing right up to South Korean fences, South Korean troops were being made to guard checkpoints with batons and stand front-line watch with unloaded rifles. "At this point, it amounts to defense corruption," he said.
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