Lee Nak-yeon: "People Power Party's Avoidance of Full Investigation, Like a Thief Feeling the Pain in His Own Foot"

Towards LH: "Dismantling Steps and Reform Inevitable"

Lee Nak-yeon, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is holding a retirement press conference on the 9th at the party leader's office in the National Assembly. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] Lee Nak-yeon, co-chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea's joint standing election committee, urged the opposition People Power Party on the 15th to accept the proposal for a full investigation, saying, "If it is not a case of a thief feeling guilty, I am curious why there would be any reason to avoid (the full investigation)."

At the Central Election Committee meeting held at the National Assembly that morning, Lee said, "There are rumors that real estate corruption is several times more prevalent on the People Power Party side," adding, "I want to believe that they are not avoiding the full investigation for such reasons."

He stated, "The opposition party is fielding many candidates with suspicions of corruption, including real estate, even in this situation, and we will uncover those suspicions to help the public make informed judgments."

Regarding suspicions about President Moon Jae-in's private residence in Yangsan, he said, "The land for the Yangsan residence was directly acquired by the president for actual use after his retirement," criticizing claims of speculation as "absurd fabrications." He also said, "The Yangsan residence is not land that can be sold for profit," and criticized the opposition, saying, "Despite clearly knowing these circumstances, the opposition seems to be trying to link it to the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) speculation scandal and is making baseless claims of residence speculation. This is a forced sophistry and a despicable political agitation."

Lee also stated that "a major overhaul equivalent to dismantling is inevitable" for LH. He explained, "The LH scandal is the result of accumulated corruption and deep-rooted evils within the bloated organization formed after merging the Land Corporation and Housing Corporation during the Lee Myung-bak administration," emphasizing, "We will reform this vast organization into a transparent and efficient public housing welfare institution with mutual monitoring and checks."

He added, "Even before the LH scandal broke out, I proposed establishing a housing department within the government organization to focus on solving housing issues," and said, "We will review this in connection with the dismantling reform of LH and the operation of a real estate supervisory body."

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