Lee Jae-myung "Approval of Arrest Motion Gives Wings to Political Prosecution's Fabricated Investigation"... Effectively Requests 'Rejection'

"Prosecutor Dictatorship Runaway Train, Stop It in the National Assembly"
"It's Not Just a Fight Between Lee Jae-myung and the Prosecution"
"We Must Protect the Constitutional Order and Democracy in Crisis"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, sent a message on the 20th, a day before the vote on the arrest consent bill, urging its rejection, saying, "The approval of this clearly illegal and unjust arrest consent bill will give wings to the political prosecution's fabricated investigation."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the afternoon of the same day, Lee posted on Facebook under the title 'Please stop the runaway locomotive of prosecutorial dictatorship' and wrote as follows.

Lee said, "This warrant request is absurd," adding, "The prosecution mobilized hundreds of investigators, including about 60 prosecutors, and conducted over 300 searches around me for more than two years, but nothing came out."

He stated, "The prosecution's claim of breach of trust in Baekhyeon-dong goes against the constitution, which proclaims a free market economy," and explained, "The prosecution makes a communist-style argument that since the construction company could have earned 20 billion won more by participating in the development project but only earned about 100 billion won due to the free transfer of land, it constitutes breach of trust for the 20 billion won difference. If a city-affiliated institution had participated and earned 20 billion won, they would have insisted it was a third-party bribe." He continued, "In fact, the prosecution indicted Seongnam City for third-party bribery, claiming that it made Seongnam FC, a city-affiliated organization, advertise in exchange for permits," and appealed, "If you make money, it's third-party bribery; if you don't, it's breach of trust. To the political prosecution, Lee Jae-myung is a criminal no matter what he does."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding the allegations of Ssangbangwool's remittance to North Korea, he dismissed them as "something that would make a sleeping cow laugh," calling it "not even worthy of a third-rate novel storyline."

Lee said, "The story that a prominent politician with a legal background committed a serious crime by having a corrupt businessman, whose face he doesn't even know, pay 10 billion won in bribes to North Korea for a one-time visit event and humanitarian aid project is unsupported by any evidence such as call records, recordings, or notes." He emphasized, "The only evidence is the testimony of Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young, who is already indicted and on trial, but is under the prosecution's control due to separate investigations and additional indictment pressures and has repeatedly changed her statements. According to Supreme Court precedents, this cannot be recognized as evidence."

Lee said, "The prosecution says they will imprison me by fitting me into the imaginary world they fabricated. This is a clear political retaliation and abuse of prosecutorial power."

He added, "I have repeatedly said, 'The National Assembly will not convene to protect me.' The Democratic Party also gave several opportunities to allow warrant requests during non-session periods without a vote," but "the prosecution ultimately refused and insisted on requesting the warrant during the regular session, forcing a vote. If there was clear evidence of a crime to imprison me, the warrant should have been requested during the non-session period without a vote."

He reiterated, "The prosecution is doing politics, not investigation."

Lee said, "If the bill passes, it will cause party division; if it fails, it will fall into a bulletproof frame. This is a trick," and added, "We must not be defeated or fooled by the unfair abuse of state power by the Yoon Seok-yeol administration and the political prosecution's political manipulation."

He stated, "In the future, if a warrant is requested during the non-session period, a substantive review can be conducted without a National Assembly vote. Nevertheless, if the Yoon Seok-yeol prosecution forces a vote for political manipulation, we must confidently vote according to the constitution and conscience, not evade it," emphasizing, "If the noose is wrong, we should not avoid it but break it."

Lee said, "This fight is not just between Lee Jae-myung and the prosecution," pointing out, "The Yoon administration is shaking the constitutional order to its roots by using the prosecution, trampling the legislative branch, and destroying the separation of powers." He continued, "We must not leave a precedent of abusing prosecutorial power, which is vital for fairness, as a tool for intimidating the National Assembly and dividing the opposition," and urged, "Please stop the runaway locomotive of prosecutorial dictatorship in front of the National Assembly and protect the constitutional order and democracy in crisis."

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