Over 430,000 sign for removal of justice minister

By Kang Seung-woo

A total of 430,000 people have signed petitions calling for Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae's removal from office over alleged power abuse in the appointment of prosecution officials.

The public petition, posted on the Cheong Wa Dae website on July 14, closed with 219,068 signatories, Thursday, while another ongoing petition has garnered more than 217,000 signatures as of 3 p.m., Friday. Any petition that gets more than 200,000 signatures within a month requires an official response from the presidential office.

The first petitioner said, “Choo acts as if she is the king, while ignoring the public as well as President Moon Jae-in. We have never seen such a justice minister, so I am petitioning for her impeachment.”

The other petition said, “Although Choo must remain politically neutral, general public opinion is that her acts disqualify her as the justice minister. In that respect, I want President Moon to express publicly his own opinion on Choo and dismiss her.”

The second petitioner also claimed that since her inauguration in January, Choo has appointed pro-government figures for key posts in the prosecution.

It is not the first time the justice minister has faced a public petition calling for her impeachment.

In March, after President Moon carried out a reshuffle of the prosecution, a petition calling on him to remove Choo from office gained more than 200,000 signatories. Then Cheong Wa Dae made an official response saying there were no problems with the reshuffle.

In addition, the main opposition United Future Party and the minor opposition People's Party submitted a motion to impeach Choo last month over allegations that she abused her power and violated the Prosecutors' Office Act.

However, the motion was voted down thanks to the ruling Democratic Party of Korea having numerical superiority at the National Assembly with 176 of 300 seats.