Democratic Party Officially Apologizes, Saying "Verification of Yang Jeong-suk Was Inadequate... We Deeply Feel Responsible"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] The Democratic Party of Korea officially apologized for the controversy caused by Yang Jeong-suk, the elected member of the proportional representation party Deobureo Simindang, who was expelled due to allegations of real estate name trust issues.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Song Gap-seok, spokesperson for the Democratic Party, held a briefing at the National Assembly Communication Office on the 29th and said, “The Democratic Party deeply regrets the insufficient verification process of proportional representation candidates regarding Yang and sincerely apologizes to the public.”

Spokesperson Song stated, “None of the allegations surrounding Yang have been properly clarified,” and added, “The only right course of action is for Yang to resign from the position of elected member himself.”

After the briefing, he told reporters, “For now, it is a priority to observe the final decision of Simindang,” but also said, “Nevertheless, since the initial verification was conducted by the Democratic Party, it is appropriate to apologize for the shortcomings.”

Regarding criticism of the “belated apology,” he said, “The party was unaware of the situation until then,” and added, “After the first media report on the 8th, Simindang conducted its own investigation and, as far as I know, recommended resignation once or twice before the general election.”

In response to reporters’ questions about why the nomination was not withdrawn, he replied, “There was likely a confrontation interrogation with Yang and his siblings, and although the explanation was unsatisfactory, since we are not an investigative agency, we could not make a definitive judgment,” and added, “Since the list had already been submitted, it was impossible to withdraw the nomination.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.