PPP blasts Lee government cabinet picks, mocks nominees as 'privilege people'

The People Power Party escalated its attacks on the Lee Jae Myung government's cabinet reshuffle Thursday, saying the new nominees had already "received a failing grade from the public."

PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok opened a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly and took direct aim at Gender Equality and Family Minister nominee Yong Hye-in, saying she had become the target of public ridicule — mocked online as "privilege person" and "Cheonryong privilege person."

Jang said the nomination was "outrageous," alleging that Yong had been involved in underground organizing activities for the Labor Party. "It was an organization that claimed to be the successor of the Joseon Communist Party and aimed at communist revolution," he said.

He also said it was "obvious" why Yong was refusing to resign her proportional-representation Assembly seat. "It is because the salaries of both her spouse and the organization would be cut off," he said. "Ultimately, it is to keep the Basic Income Party's underground organization running. It should be called not the Basic Income Party but the Organization Income Party."

Jang also trained his fire on Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won and former Cheong Wa Dae policy chief Kim Yong-beom. He said the bribery allegations surrounding Kim Seung-won over a new drug approval case were "getting worse by the day," alleging that a broker who ran a nightclub had called the nominee "oppa" — a Korean term for an older male — and that Kim had copied and forwarded text messages between the broker and the head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

"Once the deal went through, the nominee personally sent his account number," Jang said. "That is clear bribery. Bribery is established even by a mere promise or demand. Had it not been during the Moon Jae-in administration, this case would not have ended with a suspended indictment."

On why such a nominee was being appointed to lead the Justice Ministry, Jang said the answer was simple. "It is because they need a minister who will stop at nothing to drop the charges," he said.

Turning to former Cheong Wa Dae policy chief Kim Yong-beom, Jang said Kim had resigned amid multiple allegations and that rumors were circulating he was fleeing abroad. "Public losses from single-stock leveraged ETFs alone have reached 54 trillion won ($39.4 billion)," he said. "Cheong Wa Dae, the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service — as well as President Lee Jae Myung himself — cannot escape responsibility."

PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik called Cheong Wa Dae's demand that the chief justice re-nominate a Supreme Court justice candidate "an anti-constitutional outrage that denies the separation of powers."

Jeong said the chief justice's right to nominate justices was a constitutionally enshrined power, while Cheong Wa Dae's demand for a re-nomination had no constitutional basis. "Forwarding the confirmation request to the National Assembly is no more than a routine administrative procedure. An administrative procedure cannot overturn a nomination right explicitly stated in the Constitution," he said.

He said Cheong Wa Dae's claim that "the chief justice's nomination right exists to support the proper exercise of the president's appointment power" amounted to "an anti-constitutional outrage that denies the separation of powers," and called on the judiciary to "respond firmly to Cheong Wa Dae's infringement on the chief justice's nomination right."

He went on to say that while Cheong Wa Dae claimed substantive consultations had not taken place, "the public knows that responsibility for the breakdown of those consultations lies with Cheong Wa Dae." He demanded that Cheong Wa Dae "transparently and honestly explain to the public why nominee Son Bong-gi is unacceptable and why it is insisting on Judge Kim Min-gi."