Lee Won-wook "Lee Dong-gwan Impeachment Bill 'Copy-Paste' Controversy, Leadership Must Apologize"

"Impeachment of Two Prosecutors Not Appropriate"

The Democratic Party of Korea pushed for the impeachment of Broadcasting and Communications Commission Chairman Lee Dong-gwan and two prosecutors, Son Joon-sung and Lee Jung-seop, but controversy arose when the impeachment motion against Chairman Lee was 'copied and pasted.' In response, Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Won-wook pointed out that "the leadership should apologize."

On the 1st, on KBS 'Radio 1 Today,' Lee said, "The leadership that pushed for the Democratic Party's impeachment motion should clearly be criticized, and I believe they should apologize for that."

Lee Won-wook, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is questioning and debating at the plenary committee meeting for the review of the resolution on the improvement of the parliamentary election system during the 4th session of the 405th National Assembly (extraordinary session) held at the National Assembly on the 13th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

On the 28th, the Democratic Party pursued the impeachment of Chairman Lee and the two prosecutors. When controversy arose over including the phrase "impeached under the provisions of the Prosecutors' Office Act" in Chairman Lee's impeachment motion, they withdrew it and resubmitted it on the 29th. During the process of copying and pasting the prosecutors' impeachment motion into Chairman Lee's impeachment motion, proper review was not conducted. Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon criticized this, saying, "Everyone in the Democratic Party knows that this is a strategic impeachment that will be dismissed by the Constitutional Court anyway. Now, it seems no one even reads the content of the impeachment motion before submitting it."

Lee expressed regret, saying, "Regardless of Minister Han's remarks, when submitting an impeachment motion, we also carefully review bills and such. But I think these things were handled too carelessly."

While deeming Chairman Lee's impeachment appropriate, he also pointed out that the impeachment of prosecutors Son Joon-sung and Lee Jung-seop is inappropriate. He said, "Personally, I think the impeachment of the two prosecutors is inappropriate. Have the public even heard of prosecutors Son Joon-sung and Lee Jung-seop?" adding, "'What's the problem?' The public opinion formation process has not yet been well established."

He continued, "If impeachment is to be pursued, wouldn't it be better to have more debate in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and for the public to at least have heard their names and understand the issues before proceeding?" He added, "In particular, this prosecutor is currently leading the investigation into Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party leader. Because of this, there are suspicions that the impeachment is a shield impeachment from the 'Bangtanwi' (Shield Committee)."

Regarding the previous day's sentencing of Kim Yong, a close aide to Lee and former deputy director of the Democratic Research Institute, to five years in prison and his detention in the first trial of the Daejang-dong case, Lee said, "First of all, we respect the judiciary's ruling," adding, "This is a very adverse development for the Democratic Party, so we need to consider how to minimize the damage from the party's perspective and wisely overcome it."