Handonghun: "Whether to Arrest Those Who Passed Money Envelopes Will Be Decided by Those Who Received Them... The Public Will Watch"

Han Dong-hoon, Minister of Justice, requested members of the National Assembly on the afternoon of the 12th at the National Assembly to approve the arrest consent bill for independent lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Sung-man, who were indicted as suspects in the Democratic Party's 'Party Convention Money Envelope Incident,' stating, "The public is fully aware of the situation and will be watching the process and outcome of this important vote."

On the 12th, at the National Assembly plenary session, Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon is explaining the reasons for requesting the arrest consent of lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Sung-man. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Minister Han said, "The core of the criminal facts you will vote on today is that 'in the Democratic Party leadership election, money envelopes were distributed to about 20 Democratic Party lawmakers in exchange for supporting candidate Song Young-gil,'" adding, "According to these criminal facts, logically and inevitably, about 20 Democratic Party lawmakers who are identified as recipients of those money envelopes are present here and will participate in the vote. Looking at the recent voting results on arrest consent bills, the votes of these approximately 20 lawmakers are expected to be the 'casting vote' that will determine the outcome." He also emphasized, "It is neither fair nor appears fair that those accused of receiving money envelopes decide on the arrest of those accused of distributing them. The public would think the same."

Lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok is accused of being involved in distributing a total of 60 million won to incumbent Democratic Party lawmakers in April 2021 to secure the election of former party leader Song Young-gil at the party convention. He is also under investigation for allegedly providing 20 envelopes containing 3 million won each to lawmakers, instructing them to maintain support or issuing so-called 'orders' to local delegates on whom to vote for.

Lawmaker Lee Sung-man is accused of providing 10 million won in cash to regional headquarters heads through primary campaign officials in March 2021 to support former leader Song's election. He is also accused of receiving 3 million won from Lawmaker Yoon in April of the same year after receiving orders. The prosecution filed arrest warrants for the two lawmakers on these charges on the 24th of last month.

After explaining these allegations, Minister Han said, "There are numerous call recordings that capture various situations during the commission of the crimes," and listed some contents of the so-called 'Lee Jung-geun recording files' organized by date. He added, "Text messages sent via Telegram from Park Yong-soo (a secretary to Lawmaker Song Young-gil), who provided the funds, saying 'Delivered to Yoon' and 'Yoon received well' remain intact every time Lee Jung-geun, former Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Party, delivered the money envelopes. There are also schedules and National Assembly entry records consistent with the criminal facts." He also stated, "Key figures in the Democratic Party Song Young-gil campaign, including Lee Jung-geun, Kang Rae-gu, and businessman Kim, have each given statements consistent with the physical evidence."

He also stressed the seriousness of the case. Minister Han said, "The phrase 'a member of the National Assembly is a representative of the people' means that at minimum, they should be held to the same or stricter standards than the public, not that they should receive special privileges over ordinary citizens," emphasizing, "At the very least, the standards applied to ordinary citizens should also apply to this case." He further highlighted that related individuals were arrested in similar crimes occurring during local council and cooperative head elections, stating, "Why are most people arrested even in cases where ordinary citizens exchanged relatively small amounts of money in vote-buying? The reason is that buying and selling votes with money is a serious crime that threatens the very existence of democracy."

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