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President Park Geun-hye during an interview with the online program “Jeong Kyu-jae TV

President Park Geun-hye has declared that if her impeachment is overturned in the Constitutional Court, the prosecution and the media will be dealt with by the strength of the people, it was reported on Monday. There is growing controversy over how the comment could be analyzed as an intention to retaliate against the prosecution investigating the Choi Sun-sil-scandal and the media who have raised suspicions about the situation.

On Jan. 26, on his self-run broadcast, “Jeong Gyu-Jae TV”, Korea Economic Daily editor-in-chief Jeong Gyu-jae released a video column titled “The President Park Geun-hye Interview Backstory”. Jeong said that when he asked if Park was planning to handle any excess or missteps committed by the prosecution or the media if her impeachment was overturned, Park replied, “The newspapers say this and that. This time everything has come out, so it will turn out that way based on the people’s strength.” Jeong interviewed Park at the Blue House on Jan. 25.

“Park implied that since everything has now been revealed, everyone has come to know who is what kind of person,” Jeong said. In actuality, the assertion that the prosecution that investigated her and the media that criticized her will be corrected on a large scale if her impeachment is overturned is a threat. “In regard to the conspiracy to impeach her, President Park said that plans to drag her down had been long in the making. It was a good thing I asked, that’s how I felt,‘” Jeong added.

The opposition party responded with strong criticism. “She has declared war on the public,” they said, in light of Park’s comments being made public. “For the President to make comments like that is to declare a purge of the prosecution and suppression of the media,” said Minjoo Party lead spokesperson Yoon Gwan-seok at a briefing. “To reveal that she is sharpening her knives for retaliation toward the people who demanded her impeachment with the entire country lit up by candles is astounding,” Yoon pointed out. “Park Geun-hye and Choi Sun-sil’s attorneys’ attitude toward the court and the special prosecutors is not normal,” said People’s Party representative Park Ji-won on Facebook. “The court, the special prosecutor and the people have to pulverize the power that is trying to reverse the proud tide of history,” Park wrote.

By Choi Hye-jung, staff reporter

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