Oh Sehoon, Yoo Jeongbok, and Kim Jin-tae Urge Ruling Party to Stop Pressuring for Election-Driven Special Prosecutor Investigation

Democratic Party: "Cooperated in Closing Government Buildings During Martial Law"
Oh Sehoon: "No Closures... Entry Allowed with Access Cards"
"Using the Special Prosecutor as a Tool for Next Year's Local Elections"

Metropolitan government heads affiliated with the People Power Party have called on the Democratic Party to "stop pressuring for a politically motivated special prosecutor investigation for election purposes." The Democratic Party and Jeon Hyunhee, chairperson of the Special Countermeasures Committee on the Three Major Special Prosecutor Cases, have claimed that local governments led by these officials cooperated with martial law during the 12·3 Martial Law by closing government buildings and supporting the emergency measures.

On September 2, Seoul Mayor Oh Sehoon, Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeongbok, and Gangwon Governor Kim Jin-tae issued a statement criticizing, "The Democratic Party has openly targeted metropolitan government heads from the People Power Party and urged the special prosecutor to investigate them."

They explained, "Local government heads from the opposition party did not close government buildings on the day of martial law," adding, "Even under normal circumstances, entry is only allowed during late-night hours if an access card is worn."

Previously, on August 31, Jeon Hyunhee, chief of the Democratic Party's Special Countermeasures Committee on the Three Major Special Prosecutor Cases, held a press conference and asserted, "Heads of local governments affiliated with the People Power Party closed government buildings and held emergency executive meetings on the day of martial law," and insisted, "The special prosecutor must launch an investigation into acts of treasonous collaboration."

In response, the three local government heads, including Mayor Oh, stated, "Chairperson Jeon's remarks are clearly false," and criticized, "This is a typical example of a 'politically motivated investigation' and 'targeted investigation order' aimed at pressuring the special prosecutor to expand the probe to baseless and false suspicions." They continued, "We are outraged by the lowly tactics of labeling routine local government administration as treasonous collaboration and intimidating public officials with unreasonable demands for documents and on-site inspections." They added, "We can no longer stand by and watch the violent actions of the ruling party, which is attempting to politically bring down opposition local government heads by framing them for treason."

They particularly pointed out, "The Democratic Party has blatantly revealed its intention to use the special prosecutor as a tool to tarnish the reputations of the three metropolitan government heads in Seoul, Incheon, and Gangwon ahead of next year's local elections." They continued, "Chairperson Jeon must provide a valid reason for singling out these three regions among the 17 cities and provinces." They further stated, "The public will not tolerate such underhanded tactics of leveraging the special prosecutor investigation while considering running in the local elections," and concluded, "If the special prosecutor is being used for political maneuvering ahead of the local elections, the Democratic Party's special committee must be disbanded immediately."

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