Democratic Party Protests to National Police Agency... "Investigation of Seongnam FC Is Political Retaliation and Election Interference"

Seo Young-kyo, chairperson of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee (center), and other members of the Democratic Party of Korea held a press conference on the morning of the 25th at the National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, urging the police to stop interfering in elections. From left: Lee Soo-jin, Oh Young-hwan, Lee Hae-sik, Seo Young-kyo, Park Chan-dae, Kwon In-sook, Kang Min-jung.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Democratic Party lawmakers visited the National Police Agency’s National Investigation Headquarters to protest and demand the suspension of the investigation into the Seongnam FC sponsorship fund allegations involving Lee Jae-myung, the party’s standing adviser.

On the morning of the 25th, six lawmakers including Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party visited the National Investigation Headquarters to meet with Nam Gu-jun, the head of the agency, claiming that "the police’s forced investigation into the Seongnam FC sponsorship fund allegations is political retaliation and election interference." Lawmaker Seo stated, "The Seongnam FC sponsorship fund allegations were thoroughly investigated for three years and closed with no charges, but the prosecution requested supplementary investigations, and the police conducted large-scale raids as soon as the election began," adding, "This is a clear case of unfair election interference."

Lawmaker Seo further emphasized, "The Yoon Seok-yeol administration must immediately stop political retaliation, apologize to the public, and take legal responsibility." Lawmaker Lee Hae-sik of the Democratic Party also said, "It is clear that the prosecution and police are competing in loyalty to the Yoon Seok-yeol regime," warning, "If political retaliation investigations are conducted on cases that have already been closed, the credibility of the Yoon Seok-yeol government and the prosecution and police will be completely undermined."

The police are investigating the Seongnam FC sponsorship fund allegations involving Adviser Lee, as well as allegations of misuse of corporate cards by his spouse, Kim Hye-kyung. Most of these cases were filed during the presidential election process. Adviser Lee ran as the Democratic Party candidate in the last presidential election but lost, and later ran in the Incheon Gyeyang-eul by-election for the National Assembly. The 8th simultaneous local elections and the National Assembly by-election will be held on the 1st of next month.

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