Kim Tae-nyeon: "Jeong Jeong-sun, Voluntarily Appear Before Prosecution... Arrest Consent Bill Should Follow National Assembly Law"

Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the National Assembly inspection countermeasure meeting held at the National Assembly on the 13th and delivering an opening remark. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] Kim Tae-nyeon, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, urged Democratic Party lawmaker Jeong Jeong-sun to voluntarily appear before the prosecution.

At the National Assembly's audit countermeasure meeting held on the morning of the 13th, Floor Leader Kim said, "A motion for the arrest consent of our party's lawmaker Jeong has been submitted to the National Assembly," adding, "I hope Lawmaker Jeong will promptly appear before the prosecution during the audit period, sincerely cooperate with the investigation, and provide explanations."

He said, "I understand that Lawmaker Jeong wants to devote himself to legislative activities such as the audit as a member of the National Assembly. However, as a representative of the people, I believe the right attitude is to appear and transparently explain the charges against him," emphasizing, "The Democratic Party will strictly handle the motion for the arrest consent of Jeong Jeong-sun in accordance with the National Assembly Act."

Floor Leader Kim also confirmed in a meeting with reporters the previous day, "The National Assembly Act does not require convening a plenary session, and the motion for arrest consent is to be reported on the day the plenary session is held," indicating that there will be no one-point National Assembly session to handle the motion for arrest consent of Lawmaker Jeong before the plenary session on the 28th.

Park Seong-jun, the Democratic Party floor spokesperson, answered "No" to the question of whether Lawmaker Jeong had said when he would appear during a briefing right after the meeting. He added, "Floor Leader Kim urged him to undergo prosecution investigation, but since he has not done so, it should be seen as a reproach regarding that matter."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

If Lawmaker Jeong does not voluntarily appear before the prosecution, the prosecution is expected to complete the investigation related to election law violations without directly questioning him. The statute of limitations for the election law violation charges against Lawmaker Jeong expires on the 15th.

On the 4th, Lawmaker Jeong stated in a press release, "The prosecution has not formally requested a summons for an investigation during the three months since the investigation began," and "Only in September, when major legislative activities such as the audit and budget review started, did they suddenly begin to urge my appearance." He added, "Despite this situation, I have never ignored the prosecution's summons without reason and have always submitted polite requests for postponement with justifiable reasons," and said, "However, the prosecution portrayed me in the media as if I were evading investigation by abusing the parliamentary immunity from arrest."

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