Lee Jae-myung Declares Waiver of Immunity from Arrest... 'Money Envelope' Scandal Likely to Affect Lawmakers

The controversy surrounding Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and his statement about waiving parliamentary immunity in the ‘Daejang-dong investigation’ appears likely to spill over into the ‘Party Convention Money Envelope Scandal,’ which involves many lawmakers from the same party. There is a considerable possibility that Democratic Party lawmakers implicated in the money envelope scandal will follow Lee’s lead and voluntarily waive their parliamentary immunity.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is delivering a negotiation group representative speech at the National Assembly on the 19th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

As the prosecution tightens its investigation into the Democratic Party money envelope scandal, some evaluate that Lee employed a ‘last-ditch strategy.’ Currently, about 20 party lawmakers are facing summons and investigation by the prosecution on charges of receiving money envelopes during the 2021 party convention. Against this backdrop, it is analyzed that Lee took the lead in boldly waiving parliamentary immunity and sending a message to actively cooperate with the prosecution’s investigation.

Following the rejection of the arrest warrants for lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Seong-man, which had somewhat stalled the prosecution, there is now room for the prosecution to actively secure the custody of the implicated lawmakers. The investigation is reported to have made significant progress. This can be inferred from remarks made by Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon before lawmakers prior to the vote on the arrest warrants for Yoon and Lee on the 12th.

At that time, Minister Han stated, "On April 29, Lawmaker Yoon told Lee Jung-geun that he went around the National Assembly members’ offices handing out money envelopes, saying, ‘I went around the offices and met continuously. Lawmaker Yoon ○○ and Lawmaker Kim ○○ from Jeonnam area,’" specifically mentioning some of the involved lawmakers by name. The process of organizing and distributing the money envelopes was recorded as if it were broadcast live.

Minister Han also 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 support for candidate Song Young-gil.’ According to these criminal facts, logically and inevitably, about 20 Democratic Party lawmakers who are identified as recipients of the money envelopes are present here and will participate in the vote," adding, "It is neither fair nor appears fair that those accused of distributing money envelopes decide on the arrest of those accused of receiving them."

Former Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil, who is under suspicion of money envelope allegations related to the party convention, is making a statement after leaving the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 7th without being questioned. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

However, summons and investigations of the implicated lawmakers are expected to take more time. A prosecution official said, "Further investigation is needed on the donors, and more investigation must be conducted on the inflow of funds from the primary election camp and the ‘Peace and Livelihood Research Institute’ (Meoksa-yeon), an external organization of former leader Song Young-gil." The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-chul), which is investigating the money envelope scandal, is expanding the investigation to ‘illegal political funds’ after identifying evidence that former leader Song’s primary election camp used Meoksa-yeon funds in the party leadership election. The prosecution believes Meoksa-yeon functioned as an external support organization for Song’s camp, providing a total of 200 million KRW, including 100 million KRW for consulting and equipment payment costs.

Regarding Lee’s statement about waiving parliamentary immunity, Minister Han evaluated, "At least, it seems better than previous remarks that he said he would act according to the procedures within the South Korean judicial system." He added, "However, I am not sure how that will be implemented," emphasizing, "The important thing is that he should defend himself within the criminal justice system just like any other citizen of South Korea."

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