Lee Jae-myeong, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, speaks at a general meeting of lawmakers held at the National Assembly on the 6th. Senior Reporter Minkyu Park
On the 10th, Lee Jae-myung, the representative of the Democratic Party, will appear at the prosecution for an investigation into the alleged illegal donation to Seongnam FC. Representative Lee is expected to stand on the photo line. It is the first time in constitutional history that an incumbent representative of the main opposition party attends a meeting after being summoned by the prosecution.
Ahn Ho-young, chief spokesman of the Democratic Party, said at the National Assembly on the 6th, “CEO Lee decided to appear at the Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutor’s Office at 10:30 am on the 10th to investigate the Seongnam Citizen Professional Football Team expenses case.” Spokesman Ahn explained, “The prosecution and the defense counsel have coordinated the date of the appearance and judged the date to be appropriate.”
Last month, Suwon District Prosecutor’s Office, Seongnam Branch 3rd Criminal Division (Chief Prosecutor Yu Min-jong) summoned and notified Lee on charges of bribery to a third party under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. Representative Lee is accused of paying Seongnam FC about 16 billion won in expenses in return for resolving pending issues such as changing the use of the site from six companies, including Naver, Doosan Construction, NH Nonghyup Bank, and Cha Hospital, from 2015 to 2018 while serving as Seongnam Mayor. are receiving
Representative Lee is expected to stand in the photo line as he stated his position, “I will proudly attend and confidently participate in the investigation.” An official from the party’s representative office said in a phone call that day, “The position of ‘I will attend confidently’ is not a closed attendance, but a statement that I will stand on my own in the photo line.”
It is unprecedented in constitutional history for an incumbent representative of the 1st opposition party to appear after being summoned by the prosecution. In 2003, Lee Hoi-chang, former president of the Grand National Party, was investigated by the prosecution for the ‘tea-breaking incident’, but he voluntarily appeared. Hwang Kyo-ahn, former representative of the Liberty Korea Party (predecessor of People’s Power), was also investigated for the ‘National Assembly Fast Track Crash Incident’ in 2019, but this was also voluntarily attended.
On this day, when the Democratic Party submitted a request to convene an extraordinary National Assembly in January, the People’s Power criticized it as “Lee Jae-myeong for bulletproof use.” In a commentary, Miae Kim, spokesperson for the hospital, said, “If the prosecution requests an arrest warrant after the summons of Lee for investigation, the suspicion that the National Assembly must be held to make Lee Jae-myeong bulletproof through the exercise of non-arrest privilege is justified.” The Democratic Party, which has decided to call alone, should be afraid of the people,” he said.
On this day, CEO Lee did not answer any of the reporters’ questions such as ‘Do you have plans to stand on the photo line’ and ‘Are you attending alone?’