Democratic Party: "The tragic death during Lee Jae-myung's investigation is due to coercive prosecution"

Yoon Sang-hyun "Special Investigation Needed for Suspicious Deaths Around Lee Jae-myung"
Jang Kyung-tae "Special Investigation Should Focus on Political Oppression"

The Democratic Party's Committee for Countermeasures Against Prosecutorial Dictatorship and Political Oppression (the Committee) claimed that the deaths occurring during the prosecution's investigation related to former Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung were due to the prosecution's coercive investigation tactics. They also stated that they would accept the 'Special Prosecutor Investigation into Suspicious Deaths Caused by Prosecutorial Investigations' proposed last month by Yoon Sang-hyun, a member of the People Power Party.

Jang Kyung-tae, co-chairman of the Committee, held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office on the morning of the 4th and said, "Yoon, who is running for the People Power Party leadership election, insisted on a special prosecutor investigation to look into suspicious deaths around former leader Lee Jae-myung," adding, "He is politically exploiting matters where people's lives have been infringed upon by the prosecution." Kim Ji-ho, vice chairman, emphasized at the same press conference, "It is reasonable to view the unfortunate deaths that occurred during the investigation related to the opposition party's former leader as caused by the prosecution's excessive and coercive investigation."

On the morning of the 4th, Jang Kyung-tae, co-chairman (left), and Kim Ji-ho, vice chairman (center) of the Democratic Party's Committee for Countermeasures Against Prosecutorial Dictatorship Political Oppression, held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office. Photo by Oh Ji-eun @joy

On the 30th of last month, Yoon posted on his Facebook, "Six influential witnesses related to former leader Lee have died during the prosecution's investigation," and proposed, "The National Assembly should launch a special prosecutor investigation into suspicious deaths around leader Lee through bipartisan agreement." The Democratic Party responded by stating that the special prosecutor law proposed by Yoon should focus on clarifying 'suspicious deaths caused by prosecutorial investigations.'

Chairman Jang said, "We will accept the special prosecutor investigation proposed by Yoon," and added, "We will review the related details and prepare to propose the bill." He continued, "If the special prosecutor investigation that Yoon advocates is to be conducted, it should be one that investigates 'political oppression murder investigations,'" and said, "We must reveal how coercive the prosecution's investigation was that led these individuals to choose death." Furthermore, he stated, "We will fight to eradicate the prosecution's excessive and coercive investigation practices that drive people to death."

After the press conference, in a meeting with reporters, he said, "Even if the investigation targets are people around former leader Lee, we are willing to include them in the special prosecutor investigation," and "At the very least, we will propose the special prosecutor law before the People Power Party leadership election." However, he also said, "Recently, the Human Rights Solidarity revealed that 163 people have committed suicide during prosecution investigations over the past 20 years," and added, "I believe that not only suspicious deaths around former leader Lee but also other cases should be investigated comprehensively."