Park Ji-won "Money envelopes originated from the ruling party... Lee Jae-myung apologizes unlike Yoon"

Former National Intelligence Service Director Park Ji-won responded to the ruling Democratic Party's criticism regarding the 'money envelope' allegations surrounding the party, stating, "The money envelope incident originated with the ruling party."

On the 17th, Park posted on his social media, "The ruling party is criticizing this issue with harsh words, but the original cases were the money envelope incidents involving former Grand National Party Chairman Lee Hoi-chang and Speaker Park Hee-tae. It's like a muddy dog criticizing a dirty dog," he said.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 17th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

As the 'money envelope' allegations related to the 2021 party convention surfaced, Representative Lee Jae-myung issued a direct apology that day. Park praised Lee's apology, saying, "President Yoon Seok-youl neither acknowledges mistakes in state affairs nor apologizes, but Representative Lee showed differentiation and a different attitude to the public."

Park added, "Representative Lee Jae-myung's public apology regarding the so-called Democratic Party money envelope incident, former Representative Song Young-gil's request for early return, and the decision to cooperate with the prosecution's investigation without conducting an internal party fact-finding investigation are the best decisions and resolutions," adding, "An internal party investigation during the prosecution's inquiry would only cause confusion, and the party, lacking compulsory investigative authority, faces limitations."

This 'money envelope' allegation is heightening judicial risks within the party following Representative Lee's Daejang-dong scandal. Park stated, "The same demands apply to Representative Lee, but despite over 350 searches and seizures, the prosecution has not presented objective and direct evidence regarding their claims, such as voice recordings," and emphasized, "The prosecution must handle this case with swift and accurate investigation and must not cause further distrust."

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