Lee Jae-myung Decides Not to Appear Before Prosecution... Replaced by Written Investigation Following Opposition Party's Policy

Submission of Written Statement to Central District Prosecutors' Office the Day Before
Refutation of Three Charges of False Information Disclosure

On the 5th, at the emergency party members' meeting of the Democratic Party of Korea held at the National Assembly, Representative Lee Jae-myung and the members are holding picketing signs condemning the prosecution's summons of Representative Lee./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who received a summons from the prosecution, decided not to appear at the prosecution on the 6th. It was confirmed that Lee submitted a written statement to the Central District Prosecutors' Office the day before.

Democratic Party Chief Spokesperson Ahn Ho-young stated in a written briefing that "Lee accepted the prosecution's request for a written investigation and provided a written statement, so the reason for the summons has been nullified, and he will not appear."

Ahn explained, "Yesterday afternoon, Lee filled out the written investigation form requested by the prosecution with the necessary explanatory answers and sent it to the Central District Prosecutors' Office, notifying them by phone. Since the reason for the summons was non-compliance with the written statement, and he has responded to the written investigation, it is clear that the reason for the summons has been nullified."

He added, "The general opinion inside and outside the party is that we should not be dragged into petty political persecution." The day before, the Democratic Party held an emergency parliamentary meeting and decided to recommend that Lee replace his appearance in response to the prosecution's summons with a written investigation.

Ahn also expressed the party's position regarding the prosecution's reason for summoning the leader. Regarding the allegation that Lee's statement last year, "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport threatened that if the land-use change was not approved, it would accuse me of dereliction of duty," was false information, he rebutted, "According to the government's sale deadline at the end of 2014, the Ministry strongly pressured Seongnam City for land-use change, and during that process, Lee received reports that the Ministry threatened Seongnam City officials by saying they would accuse them of dereliction of duty," asserting it was true.

Regarding Lee's interview statement last year that he "did not know the late Kim Moon-gi, head of Development Division 1 at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation," Ahn argued, "Lee's memory of Director Kim dates from after he was elected governor of Gyeonggi Province and after the election law lawsuit began. With over 4,000 Seongnam City officials and affiliated institution employees, and a mayor who meets dozens or hundreds of people daily, it is difficult to recognize and remember the heads of affiliated institutions' working teams."

Concerning the Daejang-dong incident, he stated, "Due to pressure from the People Power Party, public development was abandoned, and an SPC was created to carry out a public-private joint development using private funds. Lee's statement revealing this at last year's National Assembly audit was truthful."

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