Park Eun-jung "If it were preferential treatment for former officials, I should have earned 16 billion won"... Cho Kuk "It does not appear as a benefit"

Park Eun-jung, No.1 on Pro-Ju Innovation Party Proportional List, Increases Wealth by 4.1 Billion KRW in One Year
Spouse Faces Controversy Over Large Fees from Former Official Privileges
Jo Guk Says "Does Not Seem to Have Received Benefits"

Jo Guk, leader of the Jo Guk Innovation Party, stated on the 29th regarding the controversy over former prosecutor Lee Jong-geun, the spouse of proportional representation candidate Park Eun-jung, receiving a large sum of money through preferential treatment for former officials, "It does not seem that they particularly benefited from the Yoon Seok-yeol prosecution system, as reported by the media."

Jo said in a meeting with reporters at the National Assembly that day, "To put it simply, both Lee Jong-geun and Park Eun-jung were marked as representative 'anti-Yoon prosecutors' under Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol and suffered various disadvantages," adding this.

Cho Kuk, leader of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, is giving a greeting speech at the 'Blue Flame Fund Participants Appreciation Meeting' held at the party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul on the 29th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Jo questioned, "What is the concept of preferential treatment for former officials? Isn't it when a high-ranking prosecutor retires and benefits clients they received through an unofficial network within their prosecution organization?" He continued, "Typically, a former high-ranking prosecutor acting as a lawyer does not even write a retainer contract but handles cases by phone with people they know in their network, receives money without a contract, and thus does not pay taxes. This is the typical form of preferential treatment for former officials," he emphasized.

He added, "As far as I know, all retainer contracts were written," and said, "Please see the statements from the two individuals. I believe more detailed information will come out in the future."

Park Eun-jung, former Ministry of Justice Inspection Officer, who received the number 1 proportional representation candidate from the National Innovation Party in this general election, and Jo Guk, the party leader who received number 2, are whispering to each other while attending the Daejeon City Party founding event held in Daejeon on the 24th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Candidate Park appeared on the YouTube channel 'Jang Yoon-seon's Reporting Convenience Store' the previous day to directly explain. Park stated, "Generally, former prosecutors who were chiefs receive a retainer fee of about 50 million to 100 million won. Since my husband took on 160 cases (after starting his law practice for about a year), if there was preferential treatment for former officials, he should have earned about 16 billion won," she claimed.

At the time of registering as a candidate for this general election, Park reported a total property of 4.982 billion won combined with her spouse's assets. Compared to the property reported in May last year, this is an increase of 4.1 billion won. In particular, former prosecutor Lee is known to have taken on large sums representing a multi-level marketing company as a lawyer after retiring last year, which sparked controversy.