Democratic Party: "Daejang-dong and Kim Geon-hee Special Prosecutor... Lee's Warrant Request? 'Foolish Act'"

12th Secretary-General Press Conference
"High demand not to leave Daejang-dong and Kim Gun-hee investigations to prosecution"
On Lee Jae-myung's warrant request prospect: "It's reckless"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] On the 12th, the Democratic Party of Korea stated regarding the 'not guilty' verdict for former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do on bribery charges and the verdict on the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation suspicion case, "There is a growing demand that the investigation into Daejang-dong and First Lady Kim Keon-hee should no longer be left to the prosecution," and added, "The truth must be revealed through a special prosecutor for Daejang-dong and a special prosecutor for Kim Keon-hee."

On the same day, Cho Jung-sik, the party secretary-general, held a press conference at the National Assembly and claimed, "If the President and First Lady Kim are innocent and confident, they should immediately comply with the special prosecutor."

Secretary-General Cho criticized, "If the prosecution had properly conducted even one-tenth of the investigation effort they put into investigating Representative Lee Jae-myung, would a not guilty verdict have come out? Besides Kwak Sang-do, there was virtually no investigation into the 5 billion won club, no investigation tracking the flow of money was initiated, and the legal community’s argument that third-party bribery charges should be applied was ignored, starting instead with a lenient investigation under the charge of solicitation of brokerage with a low sentence."

Regarding the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation suspicion, he pointed out, "It clearly shows the 'Kim Keon-hee bulletproof prosecution'." He criticized, "The prosecution did not even summon First Lady Kim, who gained 3.5 billion won in capital gains, and concealed and downplayed whether she was an accomplice, including text messages ordering stock sales and related circumstances." He continued, "In this verdict, the court recognized the comprehensive offense for the second-stage crimes after October 2010, leaving the statute of limitations for the allegations involving First Lady Kim intact. Then, the Presidential Office issued a statement, unable to accept the undesired result of 'Kim Keon-hee not guilty,' and is now manipulating the verdict. The more the Presidential Office intervenes, the more the public will suspect and be convinced that there is something they want to hide and conceal."

Regarding the Justice Party’s cautious stance on the 'Kim Keon-hee special prosecutor,' he said, "I understand that the Justice Party is not opposed to the special prosecutor itself, as they also know well that leaving the investigation of First Lady Kim to the prosecution will not lead to proper progress," and added, "We will discuss and consult with the Justice Party going forward."

Meanwhile, about the prosecution’s three summons of Representative Lee Jae-myung on the same day, he criticized, "They failed to present any concrete evidence," and said, "Apart from repetitive stalling questions and hearsay-like changing stories from those trying to shift blame, there was no basis at all. They are repeatedly humiliating and assassinating his character under the guise of investigation."

Secretary-General Cho strongly condemned some reports mentioning that the prosecution is considering requesting an arrest warrant for Representative Lee, calling it "truly absurd and vile reckless behavior."

He refuted point by point, saying, "An arrest warrant must meet the requirements for application, but the investigation into Representative Lee does not meet those requirements. To request a warrant, the crime must be proven, and there must be concerns about evidence destruction or flight risk, but so far, no crime has been proven, and as the leader of the main opposition party, he has been investigated whenever summoned by the prosecution, so there is no flight risk."

He added, "If the prosecution requests an arrest warrant, it is a confession that it is a 'political warrant to eliminate a political opponent'."

When asked by reporters about the party’s response plan if an arrest warrant is requested, he said, "We need to see what the prosecution will do, but in this situation, if the prosecution requests an arrest warrant, it means they are going all out," and added, "They know it will be rejected in the National Assembly but intend to put on a 'request show'." He warned, "In the end, they themselves will pay the price."