Court Rejects Arrest Warrant for Assemblyman No Woong-rae... "Following Rejection of Consent to Arrest"

No Woong-rae, Member of the National Assembly of the Democratic Party of Korea. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The court dismissed the arrest warrant requested by the prosecution against Democratic Party lawmaker No Woong-rae on charges including bribery.

On the 3rd, Judge Kim Jeong-min, head of the warrant division at the Seoul Central District Court, dismissed the arrest warrant requested by the prosecution against Representative No on charges of bribery, mediation of bribery, and violation of the Political Funds Act.

Judge Kim stated the reason as "because the motion for consent to arrest the lawmaker, who is a suspect currently in session, was rejected."

According to the prosecution, Representative No is accused of receiving a total of 60 million won from businessman Park, in five installments, from February to December 2020 under the pretexts of assistance with various projects, mediation of permits and personnel appointments of public officials, and election expenses.

Park, who provided money to Representative No, is known to have previously given 940 million won in illegal political funds and mediation fees to former Democratic Party Deputy Secretary-General Lee Jeong-geun, who was earlier indicted and detained.

Earlier, on December 12 of last year, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-cheol) of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office requested a pre-arrest warrant against Representative No on charges of bribery, mediation of bribery, and violation of the Political Funds Act.

However, on December 28 of last year, the motion for consent to arrest was submitted to the plenary session of the National Assembly but was rejected with 101 votes in favor, 161 against, and 9 abstentions out of 271 members present.

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