People Power Party: "Worst insult to the rule of law"... Ahn Cheol-soo: "Mr. Lee Jae-myung, you are not qualified to be president"

Continues to criticize the pardons of Cho Kuk and Yoon Mee-hyang daily... "Cho's pardon should be scrutinized at a parliamentary hearing"

Cho Kuk, Chung Kyung-sim, Yoon Mee-hyang, Choi Kang-wook [Photos by Shin Jun-hee, Lee Ji-eun]

On the 12th, the People Power Party continued its daily offensive against the inclusion of former Cho Kuk, leader of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, and former independent lawmaker Yoon Mee-hyang, among others, in the first special pardon list of the Lee Jae-myung administration, calling it "the worst insult to the rule of law."

In a statement, Chief Spokesperson Kwak Gyu-taek criticized, "This pardon has given a free pass to Cho Kuk, a hypocrite who was elected to the National Assembly after dragging out his trial for five years, and Yoon Mee-hyang, a shameless criminal who has embezzled funds related to comfort women victims and shown no remorse whatsoever."

Chief Spokesperson Kwak argued, "President Lee Jae-myung has undermined the consistency of law enforcement by going all-in on 'taking care of his own people.' By covering up alleged crimes and court rulings recognized by the law with political transactions, he has turned this country into a playground for criminals."

Ahn Cheol-soo, a contender for the party leadership, posted on Facebook, "Mr. Lee Jae-myung, you are not qualified to be the president of South Korea." He criticized, "A pardon for Cho Kuk and Yoon Mee-hyang, worse than a pronouncement of pardon itself. Is this 'political restoration,' where you grant amnesty for the sins of your allies and brand the opposition party as a party of rebellion to obliterate it?"

Rep. Jo Jeong-hoon of the People Power Party, the opposition party's floor leader for the National Assembly's Education Committee, argued, "Former Minister Cho's crimes involve university admissions irregularities and obstruction of disciplinary investigations. By what criteria did the Pardon Review Committee grant amnesty to someone with a record of educational corruption?" He added, "The National Assembly's Education Committee and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee should jointly hold a hearing to scrutinize this." Yonhap News