"Parliamentary Immunity for National Assembly Members Should Be Limited"
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate (current Governor of Gyeonggi Province), on the 19th stated, "I demand an apology for the slander against me and urge Kim Yong-pan to voluntarily resign from the National Assembly."
On this day, Lee said through Facebook, "Irresponsible revelations turned the National Assembly audit into a place for producing false and fake news," expressing this view.
The previous day, Assemblyman Kim revealed a photo of a stack of money as evidence that Lee had received bribes from organized crime groups in the past during the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee audit.
Lee criticized, "Within just a few hours, it was revealed that the photo of the stack of money was false," adding, "In the constitutionally mandated state audit, a constitutional institution of the country, the National Assembly member and the main opposition People Power Party used complete false fabrication to slander me."
He continued, "Abusing the parliamentary immunity to make 'take it or leave it' false and fabricated claims, destroying a person's character, and misleading the public with fake information is not legislative activity but a criminal act," and said, "I believe this is an opportunity to limit parliamentary immunity."
Lee said, "Parliamentary immunity was a device to protect assembly members during the dictatorship era, but times have changed," adding, "Parliamentary immunity has rather become a poison."
Regarding the People Power Party, he said, "They must take full responsibility for turning the state audit into a place of false fabrication," and urged, "I hope they immediately apologize to the public."
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