Park Sung-jun: "Members of the National Assembly Represent the People... Han Dong-hoon Should Have Been Courteous"

Amid the National Assembly's rejection of the arrest consent motion for lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Sung-man, who left the Democratic Party of Korea over the 2021 party convention money envelope scandal, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon faced criticism from Democratic Party lawmaker Park Sung-jun for stating in his explanation of the arrest consent that "20 people who received money envelopes are participating in the vote." Park said, "There should be respect even for lawmakers representing the National Assembly."

On the 13th, Park said on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "This incident itself is not viewed favorably by the public and has moral issues, but aren't lawmakers representatives of the people?"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He added, "Minister Han represents the government. Then there should be respect for lawmakers representing the National Assembly as well. But it seemed like he was just labeling them all as a criminal group, which I believe not only we but also lawmakers from the People Power Party would agree is problematic. Yesterday, in that regard, it felt like it went too far."

He also pointed out that Minister Han's remarks appeared calculated. He said, "Is there really any basis for specifying 20 people and asserting that these 20 received money and that it is improper for them to participate in this vote? Overall, each lawmaker voted based on their own stance, but Minister Han's remarks seemed somewhat deliberate."

The previous day, the National Assembly held a vote on the arrest consent motions for lawmakers Yoon and Lee. The motion for Yoon was rejected with 139 votes in favor and 145 against, and the motion for Lee was also rejected with 133 votes in favor and 155 against. When asked if he expected the rejection, Park said, "Not really. Even within the Democratic Party, the number of votes in favor probably shifted by about 20 to several tens. Since the decision was determined by around 10 votes, no one could predict the outcome."

He pointed out that the rejection of a vote expected to pass was partly due to the prosecution's search and seizure. He said, "There were many predictions that it would pass, but looking at the flow, the prosecution conducted search and seizure operations at the National Assembly building and the lawmakers' office building related to the money envelope case, identifying 29 people. So, for lawmakers going to and from the National Assembly and the office building, it must have been quite unsettling to be investigated on such grounds."

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