Minjoo: "Can the prosecution say it investigated Kim Geon-hee and Yoon's mother-in-law as much as the opposition party?"

Prosecutors Say "No Interest or Willingness to Investigate Seen"

The Democratic Party of Korea questioned whether the prosecution can confidently claim that it has conducted investigations into the president's relatives, such as First Lady Kim Keon-hee and President Yoon Seok-yeol's mother-in-law, at the same level as the investigations into opposition figures like Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung.

On the 26th, the Democratic Party's Committee for Countermeasures Against Prosecutorial Dictatorship and Political Oppression issued a statement regarding the 'Jung Young-hak recording,' stating, "Recent media reports have revealed that the prosecution, despite securing evidence in 2015, deliberately did not investigate prosecutors involved in the Daejang-dong case to protect them."

They continued, "The recording contains content indicating that Kim Man-bae made requests to high-ranking legal officials such as Kim Soo-nam, then Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in 2015, and Yoon Gap-geun, then Head of the Anti-Corruption Department," adding, "However, the prosecution did not investigate this content at all. At this point, it is no longer surprising."

They also said, "The 2014 recording features 'Lawyer Yang,' whom the Daejang-dong group refers to as a 'divine move,'" and "The media speculates that this Lawyer Yang is former Special Prosecutor Deputy Yang Jae-sik, but the prosecution seems neither interested in who this 'divine move' Lawyer is nor willing to investigate."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The committee stated, "The case of former lawmaker Kwak Sang-do's son, who was nicknamed 'Son of God' and received 5 billion won on his behalf, was acquitted due to the prosecution's poor investigation, and the special loan case involving former Special Prosecutor Park Young-soo's daughter and the 5 billion club investigation remain in the dark."

Regarding allegations of illegal remittances to North Korea by Ssangbangwool, they said, "The prosecution initially pursued the 'lawyer fee payment' case during the Ssangbangwool investigation, but it quietly disappeared and was replaced by the 'North Korea remittance' case," adding, "However, even this 'North Korea remittance' case, considering various evidence, is more reasonably viewed as an 'organized stock manipulation case' based on Ssangbangwool Group's North Korea business agreement."

The committee stated, "The more politically motivated, selective, and biased the investigations become, the more apparent the prosecutors' unlimited privileges and unfairness are," and asked, "Can the prosecution itself confidently claim that it has conducted investigations into First Lady Kim, President Yoon's mother-in-law, Kwak Sang-do and Kwak Byung-chae, and former prosecutors at the same level as those against the opposition?"

They added, "The committee will work with the public to uncover the truth," and said, "We will create a truly 'fair' society where prosecutors enjoying extraterritorial privileges such as investigation exemptions, non-prosecution, and lenient punishments in the 'kingdom of prosecutors' will face investigations, prosecutions, and punishments to the same extent as others if they commit crimes."