Yu Si-min says Lee 'deceived the public' over prosecution reform pledge

Author Yu Si-min has sharply criticized President Lee Jae Myung over recent remarks at a press conference on prosecution reform, saying Lee "deceived the public with statements that are not true."

Appearing Tuesday on the Media Today YouTube channel, Yu said that "not once has President Lee Jae Myung himself, nor anyone else who has called for prosecution reform, ever described splitting the Prosecution Service into two bodies — one dedicated to indictment and one to investigation — as the reform itself or as its maximum achievable form." He added that "the president made a statement that was not true, and that statement reflected his genuine intentions."

Yu traced the legislative notice process that followed the Democratic Party's passage of the Government Organization Act under party leader Jung Chung-rae last September, saying the proposals "were framed as placing functions under the Ministry of Interior and Safety, but in effect amounted to simply creating another prosecution agency — and the second draft was no different."

"Ultimately, every government legislative proposal released so far has directly reflected the president's own will," Yu said. "The same words — separating investigation and indictment, prosecution reform — were used, but the substance was completely different from the Democratic Party's campaign pledges. The president should have made that clear from the start."

Yu also turned his criticism to Lee's broader governing posture. He said he was "shocked" by a remark Lee made at a press conference after the local elections — "I gave them the authority, so they'll take responsibility" — calling it the kind of statement "only a king could make." "Legislative authority is not the personal property of the president," Yu said. "Who exactly is he giving authority to?"

Yu also pushed back against claims circulating among pro-Lee factions that he had repeatedly refused invitations to meet at Cheong Wa Dae. He said a Cheong Wa Dae staff member made one official contact in late June — after he had announced he was stepping down as a standing adviser to the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation and resuming public criticism of the president. "I declined because I thought the meeting would only leave me in a worse mood, and that is all there is to it," he said, dismissing claims that the presidential office had persistently sought contact since April as "clearly false information."

"I am not a public official or a campaign aide — I am someone who supported Lee Jae Myung as a politician in the public arena," Yu added. "To fulfill my responsibility as a critic, I will continue to offer my assessments in the public sphere rather than through private meetings with the president."