National Power's Floor Leader Song Eon-seok attends the Daegu-Gyeongbuk New Year's Greeting Ceremony. Yonhap News

On the 2nd, National Power Floor Leader Song Eon-seok criticized the prosecution for only appealing the defamation charges against former Presidential National Security Advisor Suh Hoon and former Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Hong-hee in connection with the "West Sea public official shooting incident," stating, "The prosecution has ultimately abandoned its appeal regarding the suspicions of covering up the murder of the public official in the West Sea."

In a Facebook post that day, Song stated, "I will pursue impeachment and legal action against Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and Minister of Justice Jeong Seong-ho, who exerted blatant pressure to abandon the appeal, and against Seoul Central District Prosecutor Park Chul-woo, who disregarded the investigation team's will to appeal."

He told the prosecution, "You claim to have only appealed the defamation charges related to the forced defection narrative, but this is merely a superficial tactic to avoid responsibility, keeping in mind the controversy over abandoning the appeal in the Daejang-dong group," adding, "I question the very existence value of the prosecution, or rather, the existence value of the nation."

"A case that is under trial has been brought up for discussion in a cabinet meeting, and the President, Prime Minister, and Minister of Justice have publicly mentioned it and exerted blatant pressure," he emphasized. "This is a clear obstruction of prosecutorial power and an infringement of judicial independence. It is blatant external pressure from the administration. We must hold them accountable."

He added, "President Lee Jae-myung, apologize to the bereaved families of the West Sea public official. Stop this abhorrent charade of talking about national unity while abandoning the pursuit of truth regarding the unjust death of a citizen."

Former party leader Han Dong-hoon also wrote on Facebook, "The prosecution has effectively abandoned its appeal by making a superficial, partial appeal in the West Sea public official shooting incident by North Korea, using a tactic to drastically narrow the scope of the appeal, removing essential elements," criticizing, "They have transformed the crime of covering up the murder of a citizen, a serious offense, into a trivial defamation case. There is no reason for such a Ministry of Justice or such a prosecution to exist."

Rep. Ju Jin-woo wrote on social media, "This is an unusual decision that does not adhere to law and principles," adding, "They abandoned the appeal on aspects like document deletion, which are the easiest to prove guilt for. This is an abuse of power. The day will come when a special prosecutor is appointed to investigate the abandonment of appeals."

Regarding the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office not appealing the first-instance verdict for former National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won, resulting in his acquittal, he added, "Prosecutor Park disregarded the investigation team's opinion and openly favored Rep. Park, who is a fellow alumnus from Mokpo Muntae High School. To engage in such trickery in a case where our citizen was unjustly murdered – are they not afraid of divine retribution?"