The Democratic Party was driven into crisis two years ago by the ‘money envelope’ incident at the party convention. At the time, the core of the suspicion is that he handed money envelopes to active lawmakers, regional headquarters, and situation chiefs, asking for support at the Song Young-gil camp.
In January 2012, the press summons the ‘money envelope’ case of the Grand National Party. At the time, Rep. Koh Seung-deok revealed that he received and returned 3 million won from a person on the side of National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae at the 2008 National Convention. The envelope handed to the incumbent lawmaker with a request for support, and the amount is 3 million won, the same as this time. The revelation came about three months before the general elections, so the Grand National Party was blown away. Chairman Park Hee-tae remained ignorant and led to an investigation by the prosecution. However, the results of the investigation did not go one step further from what Seung-deok Koh revealed. It was only prosecuting two figures who were involved in handing money to Chairman Park Hee-tae. It was not possible to find out if there were more lawmakers besides Koh who received additional offers or actually received money.
At that time, the money bag scandal was not limited to the Grand National Party. Just in time, sparks flew to the Democratic Party, which was holding a national convention. The beginning was a single article in the Internet media. On January 9, 2012, OhmyNews secured and reported testimony that Candidate A, who was running for the Democratic United Party’s 1.15 National Convention, handed money envelopes to regional chairpersons in the Yeongnam region. ″During the temporary national delegates convention in December 2011, Candidate A gave an envelope with 500,000 won in money, but it was rejected. The Democratic Party, which had fiercely criticized the Grand National Party, was overturned. On the same day, we decided to open an emergency high-level meeting and set up our own fact-finding team. Some candidates running for the party convention urged an ‘investigation request’, and it seemed to become an issue at the end of the election. However, soon, public opinion within the party that ‘the division of the enemy war is not allowed’ became the mainstream. The party leadership announced that it would request an investigation if specific evidence or real names were confirmed during the investigation, but after that, the self-investigation was fuzzy. In the end, the prosecution launched an investigation due to the accusation by a civic group, but that also ended without results.
But this time things are different. The voices of party officials who exchanged money were released to the media. Witnesses and evidence are in the hands of the prosecution. It is difficult to gauge the scale and impact of the judicial process. As Supreme Council member Song Gap-seok said, the party’s morality and identity are in a situation where the roots are shaken. It is not a situation where former CEO Song Young-gil’s decision is terminated or the prosecution’s investigation is just lost. If we cannot reveal the truth and show our will to sever with the old ways, the results of the general elections that are approaching one year from now are obvious.
The power of the people, who are pouring a wave of offensive against the Democratic Party, calling it the “Cheongdang Convention,” needs to look back to see if it is time to take only reflective gains like this. During the money envelope incident in 2012, Congressman Koh Seung-deok testified that “a bag the size of a shopping bag was full of money bags.” Although it was obvious that more than one person received the money envelope, there was no confession from within the party. Rather, it was said that it was a custom at this time. In addition, there was criticism that only a negative image was added to the party, saying, “Why didn’t you expose it when you received the money?” It is not without responsibility for not taking it as an opportunity to raise hatred for politics and cut off ‘money envelope politics’.
The prosecution’s responsibility is heavier. In 2012, the prosecutor’s investigation earned a stigma of “total insolvency.” The investigation of the Grand National Party, which was the ruling party at the time, failed to properly reveal the source of the funds as well as whether there were more people who received additional funds. Rather, it brought criticism to itself with a sluggish search and seizure of key suspects. As a result of the investigation, the person who turned the money was arrested, and the upper ranks, such as Chairman Park Hee-tae, were prosecuted without detention.
In addition, regarding the suspicions raised by the Democratic Party, it was suspected that they were carrying out a ‘political investigation considering the balance between the ruling and opposition parties’ by carrying out a search and seizure like ‘lightning up’. Crucially, the opposition politician, who had been summoned and questioned by the prosecution as having turned the money envelope, was in fact disgraced after it was revealed that he had handed out invitations to the publication ceremony. Now the prosecution is revealing that ‘there can be no political consideration’. He also denied that the recordings in the media report were provided by the prosecution, and said that he would investigate quickly and fairly. It remains to be seen whether this promise of the prosecution will be kept.
