Prosecutors Specify '20' Democratic Party Lawmakers Involved in Money Envelope Exchange

The prosecution investigating the Democratic Party of Korea's '2021 party convention money envelope distribution suspicion' has identified a total of 20 incumbent lawmakers who received money, as specified in the arrest warrant application for Park Yong-su, a former aide to ex-leader Song Young-gil.

Former aide Park Yong-su of Song Young-gil, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the legal community on the 11th, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-chul) wrote in Park's arrest warrant application that "On April 28, 2021, independent lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok handed out one envelope each to 10 lawmakers, including Lee Seong-man, who attended a 'lawmakers' meeting' in the small conference room of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee, and the next afternoon, he went around the National Assembly members' office building handing out one envelope each to 10 lawmakers belonging to his party."

Previously, the prosecution expressed the amount as '20 envelopes' in Yoon's arrest warrant or in the indictment of Kang Rae-gu, former standing auditor of Korea Water Resources Corporation, but Park's arrest warrant application contained more advanced details. Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon also mentioned the number of lawmakers involved as 'about 20' while appealing for the approval of the arrest motion for lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Seong-man last month.

The prosecution has cross-verified the movements of suspected lawmakers through investigations of key figures such as Kang and Lee Jeong-geun, former deputy secretary-general of the Democratic Party, raids on the National Assembly Secretariat, and on-site investigations. Even the day before, through a second raid on the National Assembly Secretariat, they additionally secured the movements of incumbent lawmakers and their aides. The prosecution is expected to summon and investigate the lawmakers identified as having received money envelopes after questioning the detained Park.

It is also known that the arrest warrant included content that Park attended the 'lawmakers' meeting' in the capacity of an aide to ex-leader Song. Furthermore, concrete evidence was presented that Park operated a 'call center' to support Song's election. Lee, the former deputy secretary-general who received Park's proposal, asked a person within the campaign to operate the call center, recruited staff, and conducted about 18,000 calls over approximately one week to solicit support. It is reported that Park delivered about 7 million won to them through Lee near the end of the call center operation.

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