Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myeong listens to Park Hong-geun’s remarks at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 17th. Senior Reporter Minkyu Park
When the court handed over to the National Assembly a request for consent to the arrest of Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, who is suspected of corruption in the development of Wirye and Daejang-dong and donations to Seongnam FC, after the prosecution requested an arrest warrant, the ruling and opposition parties engaged in a war of nerves.
In a commentary on the 18th, Dong-hyuk Jang, a spokesman for the People’s Power, said, “Now, Democratic Party lawmakers must trust Lee and help him keep his promise to the people about giving up the privilege of non-arrest.”
Spokesman Jang said, “Representative Lee said at the local election campaign in May of last year, ‘The privilege of non-arrest should be limited. Not only do I agree 100%, but that’s what I was insisting on. It is not necessary at all for a clean politician like Lee Jae-myeong,” he said. Then he can keep his promise to give up the privilege of not being arrested, and he can also reveal that the prosecution’s creative novel is a fiction.”
The Democratic Party of Korea continued to criticize the government and the prosecution, defining the prosecution’s request for an arrest warrant for Lee as “political retaliation.”
“There is no physical evidence to prove the crime, such as the traces of money flow, and there is no personal benefit that CEO Lee took,” said Lee Kyung, a full-time spokesperson, at a briefing at the National Assembly that day.
He continued, “Even in the previous-level investigation that robbed CEO Lee for several years, what the prosecution came up with was speculation and predictions in addition to the changed statements of the arrested people (those involved in the corruption of the Daejang-dong development).” I am angry at the senselessness,” he criticized.
Deputy Spokesperson Lee said, “I warn the dictatorship of Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol. If you retaliate with the right to investigate, you are a gangster, not a prosecutor, and if you retaliate politically with the power of the prosecution, you are a dictator, not the president.”
Under the Constitution, incumbent lawmakers have the privilege of non-arrest without being arrested or detained without the consent of the National Assembly during a session unless they are in the act. Accordingly, the Seoul Central District Court sent a request for consent to the arrest to the prosecution on the 17th. The request for consent to arrest is sent to the Ministry of Justice after going through the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office and the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office.
The two parties agreed to hold a plenary meeting on the 27th to vote on the motion to arrest Lee.
