"Mrs. Kim Geon-hee's Prosecution Is a Sufficient Matter"
"Board of Audit and Inspection, Evasive Scapegoating"
The Democratic Party of Korea has intensified its criticism of various illegal suspicions surrounding the Yoon Seok-yeol administration ahead of the Chuseok holiday. The Democratic Party criticized that the Yoon administration's governance is facing a total crisis, citing the second trial verdict in the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case and the audit results on the illegal relocation of the presidential office residence.
According to the Democratic Party on the 13th, the second trial verdict in the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case suggests that the prosecution's indictment of First Lady Kim Keon-hee is inevitable. Earlier, the court recognized the accomplice charges against a certain Son, known as the 'jeonju' (broker), who financed the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation, in the second trial verdict the day before. The court viewed Son's assistance despite knowing the stock manipulation as an act of aiding and abetting.
The key point of the second trial verdict is whether First Lady Kim, suspected to be another 'jeonju,' will also be indicted following Son's punishment. Both Son and Kim share the commonality that their money was used in the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case, and it is known that Kim lent an account under her name. Kim Min-seok, a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party, evaluated immediately after the second trial verdict, "This is a matter that provides sufficient grounds to summon Kim again or even indict her without necessarily doing so."
Supreme Council member Kim pointed out that the ruling party, including the People Power Party, had used Son's first trial acquittal as grounds to defend Kim. He said, "If we apply this logic as is, it means that Kim's guilt has been confirmed by this second trial verdict." Cho Seung-rae, the Democratic Party's chief spokesperson, also raised his voice, saying, "Now it is time for Kim to stand trial," and urged, "Summon and indict Kim immediately."
The Democratic Party strongly protested the recent audit results by the Board of Audit and Inspection regarding the presidential office and residence relocation illegal suspicions, calling it a "typical 'scapegoat audit' that ended with the dismissal of presidential office staff and superficial cautionary measures," and said, "As the 'Kim Keon-hee special prosecutor' is back on track, they are trying to grant a pardon."
According to the audit results on the presidential office and residence suspicions announced by the Board of Audit and Inspection the day before, the presidential residence, whose construction was led by a company that sponsored Kobana Contents operated by Kim, failed to submit completion blueprints and ignored the methods and procedures stipulated by national contract laws. However, it concluded that there was no problem with the selection process of the construction company for the residence. Accordingly, the Board of Audit and Inspection only issued a cautionary measure instead of filing a complaint, and excluded suspicions such as the construction of a pavilion and expansion of a sauna within the residence from the audit scope.
The presidential residence as seen from Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the 19th./Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@
Meanwhile, the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee held a plenary session on the same day to conduct an urgent inquiry into the investigation of the Broadcasting and Communications Review Committee's 'civil complaint instigation' suspicion. On the 10th, the Anti-Corruption Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency conducted a search and seizure of the Review Committee's office and an employee's residence on suspicion of leaking complainant information related to the civil complaint instigation suspicion involving Ryu Hee-rim, the chairman of the Review Committee. In response, opposition lawmakers belonging to the committee urged, "The police, who should investigate the substance of the civil complaint instigation, have rolled up their sleeves to track down whistleblowers," and demanded, "Immediately stop the tracking investigation."
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