Yeo's Full-Scale Attack on "Lee Jeong-geun Gate"...Democrats Face Renewed Internal Conflict Over 'Money Envelope Allegations'

Party Lawmaker: "The Party Also Needs to Reflect"
Ruling Party: "It Might Be Just the Tip of the Iceberg"

On the 13th, the ruling and opposition parties engaged in a fierce battle over the prosecution's investigation into the Democratic Party of Korea's party convention money envelope allegations. The People Power Party launched an all-out offensive, calling it the "Lee Jeong-geun Gate" as the prosecution's investigation into former Democratic Party Deputy Secretary-General Lee Jeong-geun expanded to suspicions that money envelopes were distributed to incumbent Democratic Party lawmakers, while the Democratic Party countered by calling it a "distortion and fabrication of the truth." Within the Democratic Party, there are also calls for party-level reflection on the successive allegations, raising the possibility of renewed internal conflict over the prosecution's investigation.

On the 13th, Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, met with reporters after the 'One-Year Evaluation Forum of the Yoon Seok-yeol Government' held at the National Assembly and commented on the prosecution's search and seizure, saying, "This government's specialty is search and seizure," and added, "MBC and SBS broadcast scenes showing the market office CCTV in operation, but the prosecution claims that the market office CCTV is a model, which they cannot be unaware of."

He opposed, saying, "Because the prosecution's behavior is not to seek objective truth but to distort and fabricate objective truth through people's statements, I do not easily believe it."

However, Kim Ki-hyun, leader of the People Power Party, criticized at the party's Supreme Council meeting on the same morning, saying, "From Democratic Party lawmaker Noh Woong-rae to former Presidential Secretary Noh Young-min, Assemblyman Yoon, and Assemblyman Lee, the Democratic Party's corruption is being revealed one after another like a string of sweet potatoes," and added, "Even though it is known that money envelopes were delivered to incumbent lawmakers, the parties involved keep repeating baseless claims of opposition party suppression like parrots."

He continued, "Since Leader Lee is at the center of the corruption allegations, looking at the current situation, I think the Democratic Party's corruption revealed so far may be just the tip of the iceberg," and emphasized, "I urge an unreserved investigation to leave no suspicion."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The prosecution detected signs of illegal political funds amounting to at least tens of millions of won exchanged during the 2021 Democratic Party leadership election process and launched a forced investigation. As the investigation expanded to include incumbent lawmakers within the party, the sense of crisis within the Democratic Party has intensified even further.

There are also indications within the party that denying the charges or suspicions may have its limits. A non-mainstream first-term lawmaker told this paper in a phone interview, "Several people have been indicted, are under investigation, or are expected to be indicted on charges of receiving money," and said, "The entire party needs to reflect and correct the wrong behavior." He also criticized, "(The leadership) cannot simply claim 'opposition party suppression' as it does not fit the situation," adding, "The recorded files have been out for a long time, and aren't these already known facts?"

On the same morning, Assemblyman Yoon told reporters at the National Assembly, "I will speak about (the search and seizure) at the afternoon party meeting," and reiterated, "It is clear political suppression, a planned investigation to change the narrative, and an excessive investigation."

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