與 "Ehwahyoung Ruling, Lee Jaemyung Indictment Preview" VS 野 "Prosecutorial Regime, Focused Only on Lee's Indictment"

People Power Party "Lee Jae-myung Must Have Known About the Bribery"
Democratic Party "Is Being Interested in Inter-Korean Projects a Crime? An Exaggeration"

As the prosecution has indicted Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, without detention on charges of third-party bribery related to allegations of illegal remittances to North Korea, a heated exchange has erupted between the ruling and opposition parties. The ruling party criticized that "the verdict on former Gyeonggi Province Peace Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young was a preview of the risks facing Lee Jae-myung," arguing that Lee's judicial risks have become a reality. On the other hand, the opposition raised their voices, saying, "This is the result of the prosecution focusing solely on 'indicting Lee Jae-myung' for two years since the birth of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration."

On the 13th, Kwak Gyu-taek, chief spokesperson of the People Power Party, appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and emphasized regarding Ssangbangwool's alleged illegal remittances to North Korea, "I believe that Lee Jae-myung definitely knew about it." Kwak said, "When the inter-Korean summit was held in 2018, former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon was included in the delegation to North Korea, but then-Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung was excluded," adding, "From Lee's perspective, he must have been in a hurry and felt the necessity to visit North Korea, so he had a motive to push for the visit through former Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young, who was in charge of the North Korea visit project."

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the party meeting held at the National Assembly on the 11th. Photo by Yonhap News

He continued, "During the prosecution's explanation of the arrest warrant motion in the 21st National Assembly, it was judged that Governor Lee Jae-myung received reports on the North Korea visit project at least 17 times," and added, "In this ruling as well, at critical moments, former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Seong-tae reportedly spoke with Lee, and considering the circumstances and evidence, it is believed that Lee knew about (former Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young's crime)."

Chief Spokesperson Kwak emphasized the importance of the timing of the calls between Lee and former Chairman Kim. He said, "Right after the meeting with North Korean officials ended, at a very important moment, former Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young made a call to Chairman Kim Seong-tae connecting him to Lee," adding, "From Chairman Kim's perspective, the biggest concern would be whether the payment of funds for the North Korea project was reported. He would have wanted to confirm that, and it is very natural that the call was made through former Deputy Governor Lee."

In response, Park Gyun-taek, the Democratic Party's special task force secretary for political prosecution case manipulation, rebutted, saying, "The attitude of linking interest in North Korea visits and inter-Korean peace issues to the illegal sending of money to North Korea is a logical leap." Park said on the same radio program, "Whether conservative or progressive parties, Gyeonggi Province governors have always paid attention to North Korea visits and peace issues," and pointed out, "It is not right to talk about these as grounds for a crime."

Park emphasized, "Before examining whether there was reporting or conspiracy between Lee and former Deputy Governor Lee, I want to stress that the crime itself by former Deputy Governor Lee does not exist," adding, "The ruling is wrong. First, agreements were signed twice between North Korea and Ssangbangwool. Simply put, it was about Ssangbangwool acquiring mineral development rights in North Korea, but the court refused to acknowledge this."

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (left), Lee Hwa-young, former Deputy Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province.

He continued, "Secondly, the court said Kim Seong-tae was a sound mid-sized businessman with no reason to do bad things, but Kim was involved in illegal lending and gambling, and after acquiring Ssangbangwool, he manipulated stock prices. Therefore, he was punished," he emphasized.

Regarding another issue, the 'four phone calls,' Park also stressed that Lee claims to have no memory of calling former Chairman Kim. Park said, "It is said that the call was switched at a drinking party, but politicians, including myself, receive such calls; would a governor of Gyeonggi Province answer only once or twice?" He pointed out, "Claiming that the call was made based on a switched call at a drinking party itself is problematic."

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