PPP intensifies attacks on Lee cabinet reshuffle, calls it 'declaration of abandonment'

The People Power Party on Monday sharply escalated its attacks on President Lee Jae Myung's second cabinet reshuffle, calling it tantamount to "President Lee Jae Myung's declaration of abandonment of the people."

PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok, speaking at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly, said the reshuffle had a clear purpose: "dropping criminal charges and rewarding the left."

Jang trained his fire on Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won over bribery allegations. "The shameful 'oppa bribery' case has been laid bare in broad daylight," he said, using the Korean term for an older male figure. "What matters is the outcome of this solicitation-bribery case. A drug that killed laboratory rats by making them vomit blood nearly made it to market as a COVID-19 treatment."

He added that the same company "drove a perfectly healthy firm to delisting, inflicting massive losses on retail investors," and called Kim "not just guilty of bribery but a co-conspirator in share-price manipulation."

Jang described the nomination of Yong Hye-in as minister of gender equality and family as "appointing a special-forces unit for the Lee administration's left-wing policy agenda."

"Yong once said that state subsidies breed parasitic parties," he said. "Now she is refusing to resign her proportional-representation seat so she can keep receiving those very subsidies. It says something that even progressive youth party members have taken to the streets in protest."

He went on to say that Yong had chanted "No work, Yes money" in an underground organization linked to communist revolution, had advocated for homosexuality within the military, and had pushed for the introduction of a non-consensual rape statute. He also criticized her for using state funds earmarked for women's political development to support a queer parade.

PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik said the cabinet reshuffle had become "a disaster piled on a disaster" and argued that the central question surrounding Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won was not whether her actions constituted a formal request or a routine inquiry.

"This was a drug that killed laboratory rats," Jeong said. "Whether it was a formal request or a routine inquiry, a sitting lawmaker helped a company that had concealed the side effects of rat poison — all because someone called him 'oppa.' The result was share-price manipulation, with major shareholders cashing out and leaving retail investors in tears. He should abandon the ministerial post immediately."

Turning to Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister nominee Hong Ji-seon, Jeong said that if presidential aide Kim Hyun-ji was the top political operative in the Seongnam-Gyeonggi Province network, then policy special adviser Lee Han-ju was its policy counterpart. He noted that Lee, described as the president's longtime policy mentor, had said earlier this year that Seoul Gangnam apartments were "a risky asset that could collapse at any time."

Jeong said that during Lee Jae Myung's tenure as Gyeonggi Province governor, Lee Han-ju had served as president of the Gyeonggi Research Institute while Hong had been the province's director of urban housing. "Lee Han-ju was the architect of the 'basic series' — including basic housing — that bears Lee Jae Myung's name, and Hong was the official who put basic housing policy into practice," he said.

Jeong said Lee Han-ju had demonstrated hypocrisy by holding more than 10 properties while advocating for housing reform, and that Hong was emerging as an equally glaring example after reportedly using a family connection to make a leveraged purchase that netted a 400 million won ($295,000) gain in market value within a year. "With Lee Han-ju and Hong Ji-seon heading real estate policy, the Lee administration's housing agenda cannot earn the public's trust," he said, urging the president to reconsider both nominations.