'Prosecutor Summons' Notice to Lee: "Are You Afraid of Lee Jae-myung... An Absurd Regime"

"Torn apart for over a decade"
Opposition: "Even ordinary citizens are summoned without prior notice"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, responded directly on the 22nd to the prosecution's summons regarding the Seongnam FC sponsorship fund allegations, saying, "Are you that afraid of Lee Jae-myung?"

On the same day, Lee stated during his remarks at the 'Listening Tour into the People' event at the Jungang Market in Andong, Gyeongbuk, "The prosecution suddenly contacted me yesterday saying they would summon me."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Democratic Party, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Seongnam Branch, which is investigating the 'Seongnam FC third-party bribery allegations,' notified Lee to appear at the prosecution on the 28th of this month for questioning.

Lee raised his voice, saying, "Is this the time to destroy the opposition party and eliminate political rivals?" He added, "They have been scrutinizing Daejang-dong for nearly several years, and now they say they will summon me over the FC advertisement, which was previously cleared of charges." He continued, "I have been thoroughly investigated for over ten years. They have tried for over ten years to create dust out of nothing, but it seems they still haven't succeeded," and said, "During my time in public office, and even before that during my civic activism, I was repeatedly harassed by the prosecution and police."

Lee said, "Killing Lee Jae-myung will not hide that incompetence and unfairness," and added, "The most unfair and most unreasonable regime is the Yoon Seok-yeol administration."

On the same day, the Democratic Party expressed anger over the prosecution's summons notice to Lee. Park Hong-geun, the floor leader, told reporters at the National Assembly, "Lee himself will consider how to respond to the prosecution's summons, but the party will also discuss countermeasures at the party level," adding, "Summoning the leader of the main opposition party, who was a presidential contender, in this manner can only be seen as this administration being obsessed with eliminating political rivals. It is deeply regrettable."

Senior spokesperson Ahn Ho-young of the Democratic Party also told reporters, "There is a set schedule, but unilaterally ordering someone to appear is neither an attitude toward the main opposition party nor toward its leader," and criticized, "Even ordinary citizens are not summoned like this. Usually, it is coordinated, not done unilaterally." Regarding whether Lee will comply with the summons, he said, "The leader will decide," and added, "From our perspective, we think he should face it confidently."

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