Democratic Party "Money Envelope Allegations in Party Convention... High Likelihood of Prosecution Using It to Shift the Narrative"

The Democratic Party of Korea on the 13th expressed the position that "there is a very high likelihood that the prosecution's investigation is aimed at shifting the focus" regarding the allegations of money envelope distribution at the party convention.

Kwon Chil-seung, the Democratic Party's chief spokesperson, summarized and announced the party's stance on the prosecution's search and seizure targeting Democratic Party lawmakers including Yoon Kwan-seok during a meeting with reporters at the National Assembly that day. Spokesperson Kwon said, "This is the party's consolidated position regarding the search and seizure of lawmakers," adding, "Currently, the only evidence presented is the audio recording file, but the factual situation needs to be observed over more time," suggesting the possibility of an investigation intended to change the narrative.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Spokesperson Kwon stated, "The search and seizure took place yesterday, and the audio recording file was released to the media," adding, "This could not have happened without the prosecution planning or at least intervening." He continued, "There are many suspicions surrounding this prosecution investigation," and said, "This incident happened two years ago, and the recorded file was stored on a mobile phone, which Lee Jung-geun had already received a first trial sentence for, but the file surfaced now after the prosecution obtained it after a considerable period, at a time when the ruling party's approval ratings are plummeting due to issues like wiretapping and offensive remarks," pointing out, "There is a likelihood of prosecution planning or at least intervention."

He said, "The fact that the audio transcript was released to the media on the day of the search and seizure cannot be seen as a coincidence," adding, "It is an impossible event unless there was intentional intervention."

Spokesperson Kwon explained that this position was consolidated after gathering opinions at the highest level of the Democratic Party.

Earlier, the prosecution conducted search and seizure operations on lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Seong-man, following suspicions of illegal political funds being exchanged during the 2021 Democratic Party convention. According to some media reports, the audio transcript related to this search and seizure suggests that during the convention, illegal political funds were received from Kang Rae-gu, chairman of the Korea Audit Association and standing auditor of Korea Water Resources Corporation, to support Song Young-gil, then Democratic Party presidential candidate, and these funds were distributed within the party.

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