Yoon Jae-ok: "Sacrificing All Citizens Just to Save One Party Leader"
On the 31st, the People Power Party launched a fierce attack on the Democratic Party of Korea for revealing the names of prosecutors investigating the 'Ssangbangwool illegal remittance to North Korea' case, which involves allegations linked to Representative Lee Jae-myung, as well as the 'Baekhyeon-dong' case, calling it a "level of judicial obstruction."
Yoon Jae-ok, the floor leader of the People Power Party, said at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly that day, "As the prosecution's investigation is gradually approaching the substance of the Ssangbangwool remittance to North Korea case, the Democratic Party's attempt to shield Representative Lee Jae-myung has reached the level of judicial obstruction."
He added, "When it was reported that former Gyeonggi Province Peace Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young changed her mind and gave testimony unfavorable to Representative Lee, Democratic Party lawmakers visited the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office on the 24th, shouting to stop the fabricated investigation and pressuring her to retract her testimony by various means," pointing out that "this is effectively forcing false testimony."
Earlier, former Gyeonggi Province Peace Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young, who had maintained that Representative Lee was not involved in the 'Ssangbangwool remittance to North Korea' case, recently testified to the prosecution that "at the time, she had pre-reported that Ssangbangwool agreed to cover the costs of Governor Lee Jae-myung's visit to North Korea."
In addition, he criticized the Democratic Party's Committee for Countermeasures Against Prosecutorial Dictatorship and Political Oppression for releasing the names of prosecutors from the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office in a statement issued the previous day. Yoon said, "The Democratic Party's Committee for Countermeasures Against Prosecutorial Dictatorship claimed in their statement that the prosecution consistently overlooks Kim Seong-tae, former chairman of Ssangbangwool, regarding stock manipulation charges. They even fabricated fake news that this was because of a former pro-Yoon Seok-yeol outside director of the Ssangbangwool group," adding, "There are also 'pro-Lee figures' such as Lee Tae-young, former head of legal support for Lee Jae-myung's presidential campaign, and Kim In-sook, legal advisor to Gyeonggi Province, on the Ssangbangwool board of outside directors, but they conveniently omitted this fact and lied calmly."
Yoon continued, "(The Democratic Party's Committee for Countermeasures Against Prosecutorial Dictatorship) also committed the outrage of publicly disclosing the names of the prosecutors investigating this case at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office," calling it "a clear anti-rule-of-law and anti-human-rights act of coordinate targeting that was rampant in the previous administration and must disappear forever from our politics." He emphasized, quoting Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon, that the Democratic Party's actions "go beyond the realm of politics and are close to the realm of crime."
He said, "If the Democratic Party uses the majority seats given by the people to obstruct the realization of judicial justice and destroy the rule of law, it is no different from sacrificing all citizens to save just one party leader," urging, "If the Democratic Party does not immediately stop judicial obstruction, there will be stern judgment from the people."
Other Supreme Council members of the People Power Party also supported the offensive against Representative Lee's 'judicial risk.' Kim Byung-min, a Supreme Council member, said at the meeting, "Representative Lee sharpened his criticism by saying that former Ssangbangwool chairman Kim was indicted for violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act as a petty offender of street robbery," and criticized, "If former Chairman Kim is a street robber, isn't the politician who extorted street robber money and had it paid to North Korea a bold robber?"
Jang Ye-chan, the youth Supreme Council member, said, "The Democratic Party's 'rescue operation' for Lee Jae-myung is becoming increasingly absurd," adding, "Even if the Democratic Party tries all sorts of tricks through persuasion and pressure involving Lee Hwa-young and Kim Seong-tae, it is self-defeating. The Democratic Party's organized attempt to destroy evidence will become grounds for Representative Lee's detention and will trip him up."
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