Ha Tae-kyung: "I am doomed together with Lee Jae-myung"

"The Opposition Will Decide on the Arrest Warrant for Hayoungje"

Regarding the Democratic Party's executive committee decision not to suspend the duties of Lee Jae-myung, the indicted leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, evaluated it as "the Democratic Party of Korea has become the 'Deobureo Manghal-dang' (Democratic Party of Doom)."

On the 23rd, Ha said on KBS's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs,' "they have just decided to go down with Lee Jae-myung together," he said.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Although Lee was indicted the previous day on charges including breach of trust related to Daejang-dong and Seongnam FC, the Democratic Party's executive committee decided not to apply Article 80 of the party constitution, which suspends the duties of indicted party officials, to Lee.

Ha said, "This (Article 80) was a reform clause when former President Moon Jae-in was party leader. If a politician with allegations of corruption or misconduct is indicted within the party, they are suspended or expelled, and if acquitted, they are reinstated. This is the policy, and our party has the same clause," adding, "So in our party, if indicted, they are expelled first, and if found not guilty, they are reinstated."

He continued, "Because from the public's perspective, if someone is indicted, they think 'there might be some problem with that person,'" and added, "Seeing this, it feels like 'even Moon Jae-in's reform spirit is being trampled on,' that's the thought I had."

The Democratic Party claims that the prosecution is politically suppressing them by excluding the '42.8 billion won contract' charge from the indictment scope. Ha responded, "The Democratic Party has always made such claims," adding, "But unfortunately, it seems the Democratic Party has become a hostage to the criminal suspects."

Recently, Representative Yoo Ui-dong and others have been conducting a signature campaign among People Power Party members to waive parliamentary immunity. In response to the host's question whether this targets Lee Jae-myung, Ha said, "(Lee) is naturally included, but it is not limited to him. In fact, I have promised several times to waive parliamentary immunity," adding, "Even if constitutional amendments do not happen, both ruling and opposition parties have actually agreed to voluntarily give it up; it is a long-standing promise in the National Assembly."

He also clarified that the passage of a consent to arrest bill does not mean immediate detention. He said, "Passing the consent to arrest bill does not mean an arrest warrant is immediately issued; it means going to the arrest warrant hearing, but many citizens do not distinguish this well," adding, "In fact, even after the consent to arrest bill passes, the arrest warrant can be rejected at the hearing."

The consent to arrest bill for Ha Young-je, a People Power Party member who has had an arrest warrant requested for violating the Political Funds Act, will be reported to the plenary session today. The vote is expected to take place around the 30th. Ha said, "Our party feels somewhat sorry for Representative Ha Young-je, but almost all individuals have probably signed waivers of parliamentary immunity," adding, "We cannot just stamp a rejection, so the Democratic Party members will likely make the decision."