Democratic Party: "Exclude Lee Jae-myung from embezzlement charges... Opposition, stop mentioning Lee Jae-myung in Hwacheon Daeyu gate"

6th Meeting of the Democratic Party's 'Hwacheon Daeyu Construction Corruption Investigation TF' on the 2nd
Kim Byung-wook: "Claims that the Seongnam Mayor was involved have been proven false"

[Asia Economy Reporters Oh Ju-yeon and Jeon Jin-young] On the 2nd, the Democratic Party of Korea criticized the prosecution's decision to exclude 'breach of trust charges' against presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, stating, "We express serious regret over the biased reports by the People Power Party and some media outlets that have been trying to forcibly apply breach of trust charges." They also emphasized, "Lee's name should no longer be mentioned in connection with the Hwacheon Daeyu gate."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

That morning, the Democratic Party's Hwacheon Daeyu Construction Corruption Investigation Task Force held its 6th meeting at the National Assembly and shared the news that the prosecution decided not to apply breach of trust accomplice charges against Lee, related to former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation Planning Director Yoo Dong-gyu.

Kim Byung-wook, the task force's secretary, stated, "According to the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation report, regarding the Daejang-dong development, the Seongnam mayor's role was limited to board resolution approval authority and final approval of other corporate investment, while all other matters were under the corporation president's sole discretion. It has been clearly revealed that the claims that the Seongnam mayor was involved in the Daejang-dong development-related public offering guidelines, business agreements, shareholder agreements, and the failure to recover excess profits are false."

Kim said, "The People Power Party should no longer mention candidate Lee in connection with the Hwacheon Daeyu construction corruption gate." He added, "They should stop the shameless behavior of covering up People Power Party figures linked to this, including lawmaker Kwak Sang-do, while only shouting about Lee Jae-myung." He further urged, "The prosecution should promptly investigate who gave and who received the money."

On the same day, Assemblyman Ahn Min-seok, a member of the task force, pointed to lawyer Lee Kyung-jae, who was the first legal advisor for Hwacheon Daeyu. Ahn said, "This lawyer was Hwacheon Daeyu's first legal advisor. The first person visible often plays a very important role or is connected to key figures. Lee became Hwacheon Daeyu's legal advisor in September 2015, which is very significant."

He continued, "Looking at prosecution officials involved in the Daejang-dong incident, there are former Prosecutor General, Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs, and at least district prosecutors, but this lawyer is of a much lower rank." He added, "There is a reasonable suspicion that this lawyer was recommended as Hwacheon Daeyu's first legal advisor because he was Choi Soon-sil's lawyer." He concluded, "The prosecution needs to investigate this issue through summoning this lawyer."

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