野 "Prosecutors Leak Daejang-dong Indictment for Media Play"... Ministry of Justice "False Claim"

On the 21st, the Democratic Party of Korea claimed that the prosecution leaked the indictment related to the Daejang-dong development preferential treatment allegations to the media, causing widespread false reports against Representative Lee Jae-myung.

Park Seong-jun, spokesperson for the Democratic Party, stated in a written briefing that "articles with headlines claiming that Representative Lee approved a bribe promise are flooding out," and added, "We strongly condemn the prosecution's outrageous media play, false claims, and distortion-filled assertions."

Spokesperson Park emphasized, "Representative Lee recovered more than two-thirds of the land development profits, amounting to 550 billion won, for the public, which private entities had tried to monopolize," and said, "No local government head in the world has reclaimed public funds so effectively." He continued, "However, the prosecution completely ignored these facts and built a house of lies based on selectively chosen testimonies from the Daejang-dong group," adding, "(This) is nothing but an attempt to eliminate a unique next presidential candidate and leader of the main opposition party who competed with the current president in the presidential election."

Spokesperson Park also said, "Despite the prosecution's cruel and ruthless fabricated investigation, Representative Lee has expressed willingness to appear and cooperate with the investigation," and harshly criticized, "But the Yoon Seok-yeol prosecution cowardly hides behind the media again to spread fabricated falsehoods and slander the opposition leader."

In response, the Ministry of Justice sent a message to reporters denying that the prosecution leaked the indictment to the media as claimed by the Democratic Party. The Ministry explained, "Members of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee requested the submission of the indictment. Following standard procedures, a copy of the indictment was submitted to the National Assembly yesterday (January 20), seven days after the indictment was filed," and added, "Once a copy of the indictment is submitted to the National Assembly, it is common for the media to report based on coverage of lawmakers' offices." The Ministry further stated, "The Democratic Party even harshly criticized the prosecution for carrying out legitimate law enforcement based on falsehoods," and demanded, "We ask the Democratic Party to provide evidence supporting such false claims."