Lee Yong-cheol: 'Friendship with president not a disqualifier'

Lee Yong-cheol, the head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration nominated as the new justice minister, began formal confirmation hearing preparations Monday amid intensifying political clashes over his fitness for the post.

Speaking to reporters on his way into the DAPA office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Lee said he felt "a weighty sense of responsibility" at being nominated during what he called a critical period. He said he understood President Lee Jae Myung's decision to nominate him as a signal to "bring prosecution reform to a successful conclusion with the same founding spirit with which it began, and to ensure the new criminal justice system takes root swiftly."

It was his first public statement since being named as the nominee on Friday.

Addressing opposition criticism of his past work in Seongnam — where he served under President Lee — he said he did not believe "personal ties with the president constitute a disqualifying factor for a minister." On the political controversy over the withdrawal of criminal indictments, he said it was now appropriate to "focus solely on establishing the truth, with everything else handled according to law and principle."

The ruling-opposition exchange sharpened further. Kim Eui-gyeom, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker who leads his party's side on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, told KBS Radio that while the nominee had a long association with President Lee, he did not believe it was as close as the term "Seongnam line" implied. Kim described Lee as "a man of unbending principle" who once returned a Samsung bribe and later went public about it.

Kim added that he did not expect the nominee to "make decisions that go against his convictions or issue improper instructions" on dropping charges, and said criticism that Lee lacked qualifications or experience was unfounded given that Lee had been among the first to push for prosecution reform during the Roh Moo-hyun administration.

People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyeon, also a member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, appeared on SBS Radio and took the opposite view. He said that with the criminal justice system undergoing its most sweeping transformation in 78 years, the nominee needed to demonstrate both expertise and political neutrality — qualities he said Lee lacked. "It genuinely feels as though he was picked to serve as a minister for dropping charges, and that is not appropriate," Yoon said.

PPP members of the committee held an emergency news conference Monday to protest the passage of what they called the "fabricated indictment special prosecutor act" through a full plenary session of the National Assembly, driven by the ruling bloc. They vowed to boycott all upcoming committee business — including budget reviews — and said they would "resist by every means available within the Assembly," acknowledging that as a minority party their options were limited.

Lee plans to continue reporting to the DAPA office through Wednesday while preparing for the confirmation hearing, then move to a hearing preparation office at the newly built Seoul Immigration and Foreign Residents Office building in the legal district of Songpa-gu, Seoul, starting Thursday.