Yeo on 'Money Envelope Suspicion' Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Sung-man... "Putting Party Before Self, Decision to 'Leave Party'" (Update)

"Prosecutors' Political Offensive Is Also a Part
Therefore Leaving the Party with the Spirit of 'Seondang Husa'
Lee Jae-myung: 'Regretful and Saddening... Grateful for the Decision'"

On the 3rd, Democratic Party lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Sung-man, who were involved in the 'cash envelope suspicion' during the 2021 Democratic Party leadership election, decided to 'voluntarily leave the party.' They emphasized that this cash envelope suspicion is a 'political attack' by the prosecution targeting the opposition party and that they decided to leave the party as a matter of 'putting the party before personal interests.'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, after the Democratic Party Supreme Council meeting in the morning, lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Sung-man met with reporters and stated, "With the spirit of putting the party before personal interests, we have made the decision to leave the Democratic Party."

Lawmaker Yoon said, "I just had a meeting with the party leader and the leadership. I sincerely apologize for causing much trouble to the party and worry to the public due to various issues," expressing his regret.

He added, "There are many things I want to say about the facts, but I will sincerely cooperate with the investigation and inquiry process to clarify this issue. I will share more details later," he said.

Lawmaker Lee also said, "I sincerely apologize to the public, my constituents, and the party for causing controversy," emphasizing, "I believe one of the causes of this incident was partly the prosecution's political attack."

He continued, "Therefore, with the spirit of putting the party before personal interests, I will leave the party together with Lawmaker Yoon and do my best to reveal the truth through legal struggles," he said.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The two lawmakers are expected to proceed with the withdrawal process after making personal statements at the Democratic Party lawmakers' meeting (Uijeong) held in the afternoon.

Regarding this, party leader Lee Jae-myung reportedly expressed gratitude to the two lawmakers for making this difficult decision.

Chief spokesperson Kwon Chil-seung said, "There were many words expressing regret and sorrow for not being able to stay together until the end," and added, "There were also many words of thanks for their decision," he conveyed.

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