The Democratic Party on Prosecutor's Non-Indictment: "Covering for Their Own? Room Salon 990,000 Won Non-Indictment Set"

Shin Young-dae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is questioning at the full meeting of the Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Business Committee held at the National Assembly on June 17. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] On the 9th, the Democratic Party of Korea urged a reinvestigation, criticizing the prosecution's decision not to indict two prosecutors who were present at the 'prosecutor drinking party' incident related to the Lime Asset Management scandal as "protecting their own members."

Shin Young-dae, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea, stated in a commentary on the same day, "Because prosecutors commit all kinds of crimes and are not punished, the public demands the establishment of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office and supports prosecution reform."

He continued, "The prosecution used an unprecedented and absurd calculation to not indict the two prosecutors," adding, "The 550,000 won cost for the additional band and entertainment hostesses after the two prosecutors left was not applied, which is an incredible imagination that even a writer would envy." He then urged Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, saying, "If your pledge to 'uphold the rule of law and the constitution' is sincere, the remaining two prosecutors should also be properly investigated and indicted."

Additionally, Shin said in a commentary on the 8th, "The prosecution cited the reason for not indicting the two prosecutors present at the scene as their return home before 11 p.m., judging the entertainment expenses to be less than 1 million won. This implies that prosecution officials can accept entertainment expenses under 1 million won," criticizing, "Corrupt prosecutors benefit from the prosecution's protection of their own members, and after retirement, they become lawyers who receive preferential treatment and entertain current prosecutors, continuing their relationships in a repeated cycle."

Photo by Yonhap News

In response, criticism arose among ruling party lawmakers regarding the prosecution's basis for non-indictment, which calculated the entertainment expenses per person as less than 1 million won.

On the 8th, Yoo Ki-hong, a Democratic Party lawmaker, posted on his Facebook, "Truly disgusting prosecution protecting their own members, ignoring prosecution reform," and said, "The prosecutors' mentality is like steel wire. In other words, they are shameless. Even at this time when the whole nation’s attention is focused on prosecution reform due to the disciplinary action against Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol and the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office issue, they reveal their true colors by protecting their own members and acting like legal tricksters."

On the 9th, he further criticized, "They included the person who hosted the party as one of those who received entertainment to somehow avoid indicting the two prosecutors and calculated the entertainment amount. They are mathematicians performing miracles worse than rounding errors."

On the same day, Shin Jeong-hoon, also from the same party, wrote on Facebook, "Yoon Seok-yeol prosecution’s 990,000 won non-indictment set for room salon," criticizing, "They divided the cost of the alcohol consumed that day by 1/n, calculated the time, and excluded the cost of female employees to lower the per-person alcohol cost below 1 million won. As a result, except for one prosecutor directly involved in the Lime investigation, all other prosecutors were not indicted. Then, they announced an absurd and below-common-sense investigation result claiming it was neither bribery nor a violation of the Kim Young-ran Act."

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