Park Beom-gye "Lee Jae-myung's arrest warrant unlikely to be issued... must reject the arrest consent bill"

"Approval of Arrest Motion Will Raise Presumption of Guilt"
"Majority of Democratic Party Lawmakers Agree on Rejection"

Following the prosecution's request for an arrest warrant for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, the court sent the arrest consent bill to the prosecution, and Democratic Party lawmaker Park Beom-gye raised his voice, saying, "The arrest consent bill must be rejected."

On the 19th, Park said on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' that "Even if the warrant is requested, I judge that there is a very high possibility that the warrant will be dismissed if a substantive review is conducted. However, we have no obligation to comply with this reckless investigation so far, which fundamentally infringes on the suspect's right to defense, and is a one-sided and harsh investigation close to judicial murder," he said.

If the arrest consent bill is passed, Lee will undergo a substantive review of the arrest warrant by the court. Through this, the court will determine whether there are grounds to issue the arrest warrant. Park believes there is a high possibility that the warrant will be dismissed during the substantive review process.

Park Beom-gye and Kim Doo-kwan, members of the Democratic Party of Korea who declared their candidacy for the next floor leader election, are attending a members' meeting held at the National Assembly on the 20th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Nevertheless, Park explained that the reason the arrest consent bill must be rejected is that approving it could be seen as compliance with the prosecution. He said, "One has the right to assert their innocence and grievance, whether through fasting, refusal to testify, receiving assistance from a lawyer, or asserting the principle of equality of arms. If we consent to this under the name of the arrest consent bill, it will effectively lead to a presumption of guilt and give the public the impression that the Democratic Party is obediently and blindly following the prosecution's reckless investigation," he said.

However, he expressed skepticism about making the rejection of the arrest consent bill the party's official stance. Park said, "Rather than deciding this as a party stance, it should be done through tacit understanding," adding, "I believe that a considerable number of Democratic Party lawmakers already share the consensus that they absolutely cannot cooperate with the prosecution on the arrest consent bill."

He also said that Lee himself said the decision should be left to the lawmakers' autonomous conscience. Park said, "(Lee) did not mention a party stance. He implied that it must be left to the lawmakers' autonomous conscience," adding, "Whether it will be on the 21st or the 25th, if we persuade well, I believe lawmakers with differing opinions will follow along."

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