Jinseongjun: "No Ungrae's Arrest Motion Is Political Oppression... Hayoungje Is Not"

Controversy over 'double standards' has erupted as many Democratic Party lawmakers reportedly voted in favor of the arrest motion for People Power Party lawmaker Ha Young-je, contrasting with the Democratic Party's majority opposition to the arrest motions for party leader Lee Jae-myung and lawmaker Roh Woong-rae. Democratic lawmaker Jin Sung-jun explained that the cases differ in nature.

On the 31st, Jin said on MBC's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" program, "The privilege against arrest is meant to protect the legislature and lawmakers from political oppression, but it is hard to see the Yoon Seok-yeol administration as politically oppressing lawmakers from the ruling party," adding this perspective.

On the 30th, at the plenary session held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is voting on the arrest consent bill for Assemblyman Ha Young-je. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The day before, the arrest motion for lawmaker Ha was passed with 160 votes in favor, 99 against, and 22 abstentions out of 281 members present. Considering that the People Power Party effectively made supporting Ha's arrest motion their party line, at least 40 Democratic lawmakers also voted in favor. The ruling party has criticized this as 'double standards' targeting the rejection of the arrest motion for party leader Lee.

However, Jin said, "(In Ha's case) there was no possibility of political oppression, and Ha himself acknowledged some of the charges," adding, "Therefore, it is difficult to see this as an unfair fabricated or targeted investigation. Lawmakers made their judgments on that basis."

When asked by the host whether all arrest motions against opposition lawmakers should be considered political oppression, Jin replied, "Can we say all of them are?" but explained the reason for voting against Roh's arrest motion: "Roh firmly denied the charges and sincerely cooperated with the investigations so far."

Not only Roh but also the Democratic Party claims that the arrest motion for party leader Lee is political oppression.

Jin said, "Roh denied the charges. For example, the bundles of cash found at his home were actually condolence money received at his book launch and other events," adding, "However, the prosecution took all the money out of the envelopes, photographed the bundles of cash, and made them public to prove the charges. This itself deepened suspicions of political oppression."