DP opposes request for Lee’s appearance for questioning

The Democratic Party of Korea opposed the prosecution’s request for its leader Lee Jae-myung’s appearance for questioning and said it is First Lady Kim Keon Hee who the public wants standing in the photo line of the prosecution. The party criticized the prosecution for engaging in political revenge and extremely lopsided investigation while accusing it of overlooking the first lady’s case. Meanwhile, the ruling People Power Party said Lee has never-ending corruption charges and called for a strict investigation by the prosecution.

“It is a typical case of unfair investigation by letting First Lady Kim off the hook for suspicious surrounding her while being excessively rigorous toward the leader of the opposition party,” Cho Jeong-sik, the democratic party’s secretary general, said at a press conference held at the National Assembly. “A deposition revealed that Kim herself purchased stocks in a trial against her manipulation of the stock prices of Deutsch Motors,” he said. “It is directly in contrast to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s statement he made as a presidential candidate. It is President Yoon who published false information in violation of the Public Official Election Act. The democratic party will hold a general meeting on Monday and discuss whether to pursue an act on the special investigation of First Lady Kim Keon-hee. “We will get to the bottom of President Yoon’s violation of the Public Official Election Act by publishing false information and reach an agreement on how to proceed in terms of filing charges at the general meeting,” said Cho.

“The Democratic Party of Korea, which had a presidential candidate with four previous convictions and even elected him to become its leader, should impeach its leader Lee before it is too late,” said Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon of the People Power Party, in response to the democratic party’s criticism of political revenge. He also mentioned that public documents exchanged between the Seongnam local government and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport regarding suspicions of special favors given to the development of Baekhyeon-dong and added that the truth about Lee’s deception and lies against the public started to be revealed. “It is the tip of an iceberg. Lee’s biggest enemy is himself.”

In a commentary published on Sunday, Park Jeong-ha, the chief spokesperson of the People Power Party, quoted Lee’s social media post in 2017, which said “Catching a thief may look like revenge to the thief but it seems like the implementation of justice and common sense to me” targeting Hong Joon-pyo, the then-leader of the Liberty Korea Party. Park said that the past is telling Lee and the democratic party of the current that the investigation is not revenge, but rather the ‘implementation of justice and common sense.’


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