Lee Jae-myeong, leader of the Democratic Party, speaks at the general meeting of lawmakers held at the National Assembly on the 6th. Senior reporter Minkyu Park
On the 10th, Lee Jae-myung, representative of the Democratic Party, will appear before the prosecution for an investigation into the alleged illegal donation to Seongnam FC. Rep. Lee should 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, told the National Assembly on the 6th: “Lee decided to report to the Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Attorney’s Office at 10:30 on the 10th to investigate the Seongnam Citizen Professional Football Team Publicity Case Spokesperson Ahn explained, “The prosecution and defense attorney coordinated the date of the appearance and deemed it appropriate.”
Last month, the Suwon District Prosecutor’s Office, 3rd Criminal Division of the Seongnam Branch (Chief Prosecutor Yu Min-jong) summoned and served Lee with the bribery charge against a third party under the Aggravated Felony Sentence Act specific. Representative Lee is accused of paying Seongnam FC about 16 billion won in advertising costs in exchange for settling outstanding issues such as land use change by six companies, including Naver, Doosan Construction, NH Nonghyup Bank and Cha Hospital, from 2015 to 2018 when he served as mayor of Seongnam
He is expected to be on the photo line as CEO Lee announced his position on the 26th of last month, “I will proudly and confidently participate in the investigation.” An official from the party representation office said in a phone call that day, “The position of ‘I will participate with confidence’ is not a closed participation, but a statement that I will stand alone in the photo queue.”
On this day, CEO Lee did not answer any questions from reporters, such as “Are you planning to stand on the photo line” and “Will you participate alone?”
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 chairman of the Grand National Party, was investigated by the prosecution for the “case of illegal theft of presidential election funds”, but he was not the incumbent president at the time.
Ho-young Joo, Representative of People’s Power, met with reporters at the National Assembly on this day and said, “If an investigation agency is conducting an investigation and requests procedural participation, if necessary, the legal system responds.” , and said: “It is natural to participate”.
On this day, when the Democratic Party alone 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 comment, Kim Mi-ae, a spokesman for the hospital, said, “If the prosecution requests an arrest warrant after Lee’s summons and investigation, the suspicion that the National Assembly should be held to render Bulletproofing Lee Jae-myung through the exercise of the non-arrest privilege is justified.” The Democratic Party, which it decided to convene on its own, must be afraid of the people,” he said.
