Investigation into 'Don Bongtu' Expands to Hong Young-pyo's Camp?… Prosecution "Currently Focused on Song"

The prosecution investigating the Democratic Party of Korea's '2021 Party Convention Money Envelope Distribution' allegations has confirmed that there is evidence of money envelopes being distributed to party members not only in former leader Song Young-gil's camp but also in other candidate camps, drawing attention to whether the investigation will expand.

Prosecution
Photo by Yonhap News

According to the prosecution's arrest warrant request for independent lawmaker Lee Sung-man on the 31st, the decisive trigger for the key suspect in the case, independent lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok, to decide to procure money envelopes was information that 'a competing candidate camp was providing money and goods,' the prosecution has determined.

Ahead of the party convention scheduled for May 2, 2021, when former leader Song's approval ratings were falling to the point of being chased by competing candidates (Hong Young-pyo and Woo Won-shik), the prosecution stated in the warrant request that after Yoon obtained information that the competing candidate camp was appealing for support by providing money and goods to Democratic Party lawmakers, he planned the procurement of money envelopes together with former Democratic Party Deputy Secretary-General Lee Jung-geun. At that time, Yoon was reportedly deeply concerned that due to the competing candidate camp's money strategy, former leader Song's support base would defect and even moderate lawmakers' votes would be lost.

This suggests the possibility that bribery funds were distributed throughout the Democratic Party during the party convention, which the legal community is taking seriously. The money envelope distribution by former leader Song's camp may have been just the 'tip of the iceberg.' Voices calling for the expansion of the prosecution's investigation are expected to grow.

Although the prosecution did not specify who the competing candidate was in the arrest warrant request, Hong Young-pyo, a Democratic Party lawmaker, is being pointed out inside and outside the prosecution. Hong appears in the so-called 'Lee Jung-geun phone recording file' reportedly secured by the prosecution. In the file, former Korea Water Resources Corporation Standing Auditor Kang Rae-gu tells former Deputy Secretary-General Lee, "Right now, they are distributing to lawmakers on Hong Young-pyo's side," and "They are considering it. If necessary, money is the easiest." The prosecution likely used this content as the basis for writing Yoon's motive in the warrant request.

It does not appear that the prosecution will immediately expand the investigation to Hong's camp. A prosecution official told this paper, "Currently, the investigation is focused on Song Young-gil's camp," neither denying nor confirming the possibility of expanding the investigation and remaining tight-lipped. Many in the legal community analyze that conditions for investigating Hong's camp have not yet been established. The phone recording mainly conveys hearsay like "I heard they are distributing money," so it is uncertain whether this is actually true. The prosecution will likely need concrete circumstantial evidence, testimonies, or involved parties with higher credibility to proceed with an investigation. Meanwhile, in political circles, there are reports that close aides who assisted Hong Young-pyo closely during the party convention are fully denying the money envelope distribution allegations.

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