Jung Cheong-rae Baffled by Backlash Against Abolishing Prosecutors' Supplementary Investigation Authority

Jung Cheong-rae, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on the 20th that he was "baffled and surprised" as cautious arguments emerged within the party regarding the abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority. In an interview with MBC Radio that day, former Chairman Jung compared the atmosphere of the current general meeting with the time he served as party leader.

"During my tenure as party leader, when we held general meetings, the atmosphere was such that it was difficult to argue against abolition, even if one internally believed that the complete abolition of supplementary investigation authority was not right," he pointed out. Regarding the recent general meeting, he said, "Seeing the absolute majority naturally and confidently arguing that the authority should not be abolished, I wondered, 'How did it come to this?'"

In the same interview, former Chairman Jung also interpreted his reaching the fundraising limit as a response indicating that he would protect party leader Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party, asking party members to protect him in return. He argued that the willingness of people to defend him in the face of collective attacks manifested as political donations.