Lee Hae-chan: "Prosecutors tell the opposition 'Democratic Party must lose to stop prosecution reform'... Received two reports of political schemes before the general election"

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] Former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, Lee Hae-chan, stated on the 7th that before the 21st general election last April, he received a tip-off that "the prosecution was preparing two political operations," and now it appears that the "accusation manipulation" suspicion was one of them.

Lee said, “(The prosecution) told opposition party lawmakers a lot, saying, ‘Our (Democratic) Party will suffer a crushing defeat in the 21st general election. Then, prosecution reform can be blocked. Do not worry.’” He added, “So I issued a warning. There were many such lobbying efforts.”

Lee, who led the Democratic Party as its leader during the 21st general election, said on TBS Traffic Radio’s "Kim Eo-jun’s News Factory" that “when I was party leader at the time, I received a tip-off that about three political operations were underway.” He continued, “One seemed to be from the Board of Audit and Inspection, and two were being prepared by the prosecution,” adding, “At that time, I mentioned in advance that ‘there seem to be about three operations, and if they are executed, I will not leave them alone’ as a warning.”

Lee said, “Looking at it now, one of the two was this, and the other seemed to be related to Yoo Si-min,” and therefore, “I think the tip-off we received back then was quite accurate.” He recalled, “(Because there were many prosecutors trying to conduct political operations right before the election,) I issued a warning. I said that if any prosecutors were found roaming around the National Assembly members’ offices, I would disclose their names. (That much) there were many such lobbying efforts.”

Regarding whether this suspicion emerged from internal power struggles within the People Power Party, Lee said, “At the time of the 21st general election, it was not at that level, but (documents including the accusation manipulation suspicions) were reportedly obtained two months ago.” Considering this, he said, “It cannot be ruled out that these documents were leaked during the opposition party’s internal primary process to damage each other,” emphasizing the possibility that such documents were leaked to completely destroy rival candidates.