Justice minister nominee Han Dong-hoon has responded to President Moon Jae-in's remarks about the nominee's earlier criticism of disputed bills aimed at abolishing the prosecution's investigative power.

According to Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday, Han said staying silent about the controversy as the justice minister nominee would cast doubt over his professional ethics and conscience.

The nominee stressed that the nation is about to face the passage of bills without a single public hearing that will inflict great damage on the general public as it causes a collapse of the systematic response to crime.

During an interview with former JTBC news anchor Sohn Suk-hee Monday night, President Moon slammed Han's earlier criticism, saying his pledge to "definitely" block the legislation is "very inappropriate" and "very dangerous."

At an earlier meeting with reporters, Moon supported the arbitrated proposal from National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug, which the main opposition People Power Party(PPP) initially agreed to before calling for a reconsideration.

The president, however, urged the rival parties to reach an agreement before putting the proposal to a vote, in an apparent reference to the ruling Democratic Party(DP)'s avowal to pass it through parliament, unilaterally if need be.