Lee Jae-myung "Respect for Democratic Party's Decision... People Power Party's Unreasonable Demand to Referee Basketball While Playing Soccer"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, expressed "respect for the agonizing decision" regarding the Democratic Party's recommendation for the resignation (or expulsion) of lawmakers suspected of real estate speculation.

On the 9th, Lee posted on Facebook under the title "We must respond to the people's anger." He said, "I pay my respects to Representative Song Young-gil and the party leadership for their agonizing decision to recommend resignation with the spirit of 'eupchammasok' (sacrificing a part for the whole)." He added, "I express my regret to those who received the resignation recommendation. I hope this painful process will be the beginning of revealing the truth."

This was a message to focus on the essential task of resolving the real estate speculation issue. Lee emphasized, "Now it is time to act. To ensure that the decision to expel 12 Democratic Party lawmakers is not in vain, we must head straight to the core. What the people want is a systemic reform of the real estate speculation republic."

He continued, "We must enact a special law mandating a special investigation into real estate speculation by all senior public officials, lawmakers, and their relatives. We must also immediately pass the Senior Public Officials Real Estate Blind Trust Act to prevent the pursuit of private gain using real estate information obtained through public office."

He then posted another message criticizing the People Power Party. Lee said, "The People Power Party's claim that they will not undergo investigation unless it is by the Board of Audit and Inspection is absurd in this grave situation where public anger and disillusionment over illegal real estate speculation and distrust of the public service are sky-high."

He pointed out that according to Article 24 of the Board of Audit and Inspection Act, National Assembly officials are excluded from the scope of duties, and under the principle of separation of powers, administrative agencies under the executive branch cannot audit legislative officials.

Lee stated, "The Board of Audit and Inspection was originally established to audit public officials' 'duties,' so real estate transactions of individual lawmakers unrelated to their duties are not subject to investigation." He added, "Even if we concede that illegal or improper duties by administrative agencies occurred during lawmakers' real estate transactions, that would be subject to investigation, but a full investigation of all lawmakers does not apply."

He continued, "Despite knowing full well that a full investigation is only possible by changing the purpose of the Board of Audit and Inspection and amending the Board of Audit and Inspection Act to create an unconstitutional law, the People Power Party is calling for public interest audits and one-point legislation. They are showing a double standard by demanding a method that is practically impossible for a full investigation, even after obtaining consent for a full investigation from all their lawmakers."

Lee also said, "I hope they stop insisting on having a basketball referee while playing a soccer game. Stop making excuses to run away and honestly undergo a full investigation by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission."

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