Hong Ik-pyo: "Kim Eun-kyung's 'Money Envelope' Remark Was Not Meant to Be Taken So Seriously"

"Denial of Money Envelope Refuted... Prosecution Says 'Correcting Political Exploitation'"
"Tibet Event Is Not a Political Event"

Hong Ik-pyo, a Democratic Party lawmaker, defended Kim Eun-kyung, the Innovation Committee Chair leading the Democratic Party's reform, on the 19th, saying, "I don't think the content itself was discussed too seriously," amid criticism over Kim's remark that the Democratic Party's 'money envelope scandal' "may have been fabricated by the prosecution."

On the 19th, Hong said on YTN's 'News King Park Ji-hoon' program, "Chairman Kim seems to have said that the prosecution expanded and exaggerated this case."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, in an interview with Kyunghyang Shinmun, Chair Kim said, "I think the money envelope incident may have been (fabricated by the prosecution)," which drew criticism from the ruling party accusing her of "defending the money envelopes."

Hong said, "It's not necessarily that the prosecution fabricated it, but looking at various circumstances, when reviewing the indictment contents of lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Sung-man, it seems the prosecution has not presented clear substantial evidence beyond what has been reported in the media," adding, "Most legal circles also say that regardless of the arrest consent issue, the court is likely to dismiss the detention review," raising suspicions.

He said, "From our party's standpoint, the money envelope incident itself is a fact, and the party officially apologized on behalf of the party, so we do not deny the money envelope incident itself because it is something we need to correct," adding, "However, we take responsibility for the substantive truth where we should, but the political use of this by the prosecution needs to be corrected. This is how I understand Chairman Kim's position."

Amid worsening Korea-China relations due to the Singhaiming, Chinese Ambassador to Korea, incident, seven Democratic Party lawmakers, including Hong, visited China and Tibet for a 3-night, 4-day trip and returned the day before. Regarding criticism from the ruling party calling it 'bribery diplomacy,' he explained, "Even for domestic travel, you need to prepare at least a week in advance. When arranging appointments with major Chinese institutions, it takes at least a month or two. Our preparations for the China visit started in early April, and the schedule was finalized about three weeks ago."

Regarding the 'human rights' controversy over visiting the expo held in Tibet, he said, "The Tibet event itself is not a political event. It is a cultural event, so there is no need to interpret it excessively politically," adding, "For example, when we hold the March 1st Movement event, which relates to our resistance against Japanese colonial rule, it is a cultural event, but it is not an anti-Japan event. Saying we should not go because of that would be unreasonable."

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