People Power Party: "Lee Jae-myung a human rights lawyer? Are gangsters human rights protection groups?"

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, is answering questions from reporters after concluding a national meeting with farmers from Gangjin at the Anpung village hall in Gundo-myeon, Gangjin-gun, Jeollanam-do on the 27th. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Boryeong] The People Power Party criticized Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, saying that those around him have been involved in many cruel and violent incidents. In particular, they took issue with Lee, who has promoted himself as a 'human rights lawyer,' for defending cases such as a mother and daughter murder case during his time as a lawyer.

Lee Yang-su, chief spokesperson of the People Power Party's Central Election Committee, said in a statement on the 27th, "Candidate Lee has claimed to be a 'human rights lawyer.' Is it the behavior of a human rights lawyer to argue diminished capacity for a premeditated murderer?" He added, "If Candidate Lee is a human rights lawyer, does that mean the 'Seongnam International Mafia faction' is a 'human rights protection organization'?"

Lee continued, "Candidate Lee suddenly brought up the fact that he tried to reduce the sentence of his nephew, who brutally murdered a mother and daughter, by claiming 'mental illness and diminished capacity,' and then apologized calling it dating violence, which has sparked public outrage. Meanwhile, it has been revealed that he defended another nephew, a member of the Seongnam International Mafia faction, four times. Why are those around Candidate Lee so frequently involved in cruel and violent incidents?"

He further stated, "It is said that Candidate Lee personally defended members of the Seongnam International Mafia faction multiple times. Not only that, there are also suspicions that Candidate Lee's personal secretary was involved in a group assault by gangsters and was convicted."

Lee also said, "Comtrade, led by Lee Jun-seok, a key gangster of the Seongnam International Mafia faction, received the Small and Medium Enterprise Encouragement Award selected by Seongnam City in 2016 when Candidate Lee was mayor of Seongnam. The company was established in August 2015, so the recommendation documents could not even be filled out properly, yet Candidate Lee personally gave the award." He added, "Comtrade was a key project of Candidate Lee and donated to Seongnam FC, of which Candidate Lee is the club owner. It also provided support such as a driver to Eun Soo-mi, Candidate Lee's successor as mayor of Seongnam. Will you say all of this is a coincidence? The media's allegations of collusion between Candidate Lee and gangsters are not due to a tilted playing field but have reasonable grounds."

He concluded, "Candidate Lee must clearly disclose the facts about his connections with gangsters around him to the public, sincerely apologize, and repent."