[2023 National Audit] Song Kyung-ho, Chief Prosecutor of the Central District, "All Charges Against Lee Jae-myung Are Serious and Warrant Detention"

Song Kyung-ho, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, stated on the 17th during the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit regarding the investigation related to Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, "Each case?the Baekhyeon-dong incident, the violation of the Public Official Election Act, and the North Korea remittance case?is a serious matter and I consider them all grounds for detention."

Song Kyung-ho, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, is responding to questions from committee members during the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit of 11 prosecutors' offices, including the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, held on the morning of the 17th at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

At the audit held at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office that day, when Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Young-bae mentioned the remittance to North Korea case being sent back to the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office and criticized, "Isn't this a record-level trick? Since they are not confident in one case, they tried to make it look plausible by attaching various things and greatly exaggerating it," Song responded accordingly.

Song explained, "Then, as you said, should we have requested separate arrest warrants for each of the three cases? That is why they were combined into one."

Regarding Kim's criticism of the dismissal of the arrest warrant as a "bare investigation" and "incompetence," Song rebutted, "There are many differing opinions on the prosecution's investigation. I cannot agree with those opinions."

He added, "All the cases had already begun investigation during the previous administration before Lee ran for the National Assembly and party leader," and "At that time, the Prosecutor General's de facto command authority was excluded, and the investigations were led by Prosecutors Lee Sung-yoon and Lee Jung-soo."

Furthermore, he emphasized, "The size of the investigation team is not unusual. I also handled the investigation of former President Lee Myung-bak's case."

Regarding the court's decision to dismiss Lee's arrest warrant, Song said, "There are many views questioning the logical completeness of the court's decision," and "Of course, we respect the judiciary's judgment, but I have already expressed that it is difficult to accept the result."

On the allegations of false reports before the presidential election under investigation by the prosecution, he said, "Considering the method of producing fake news, the large sums of money involved in its production, the false information reported just before the election, and the subsequent follow-up reports and complaints, I believe this is a serious matter."

In response to People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Sang-beom's question about whether Lee also received related reports, Song said, "We will proceed with the investigation based on evidence and legal principles to make a judgment," and added, "Of course, we will also examine the existence of criminal responsibility and the extent of personal accountability."

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