"An Economic Emergency With Concerns Over Won and Stock Market Plunge"
“For the first time in my life, I am making a pro-Samsung statement in favor of Samsung Group.”
Ha Tae-kyung, the head of the Insurance Training Institute and a three-term National Assembly member (People Power Party), made this remark on the 8th regarding the prosecution’s appeal in the case of Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, accused of unfair merger and accounting fraud, demanding the withdrawal of the appeal.
Ha Tae-kyung, Director of the Insurance Training Institute, leaving the press conference after declaring his candidacy for Jongno in the National Assembly in 2023. Photo by Yonhap News
On the same day, Ha criticized through his social media, “The prosecution’s appeal is an outrage that deepens the national economic crisis and is like throwing stones to break the ice on our fragile economy.”
He continued, “We are currently in an economic emergency. At any moment, the won could collapse, and stock prices could plummet in this economic emergency,” adding, “If I were still in the National Assembly, I probably wouldn’t have realized this. But now that I am in the financial sector, I feel this crisis even more urgently.”
Ha stated, “Ha Tae-kyung, who used to go after Samsung, is now making a pro-Samsung statement for the first time in his life,” and argued, “Samsung is not just an ordinary company but a national representative company. When Samsung revitalizes, foreign investors come in, stabilizing the exchange rate and reviving the stock market. This stabilizes the national economy.”
He added, “The prosecution’s appeal is an economic outrage,” clarifying, “I am not saying the prosecution should abandon legal justice. This is an elitist, obstinate appeal, which is an abuse of prosecutorial power,” and said, “The prosecution’s appeal is like throwing stones to break the ice on the economic thin ice. The stigma of ‘politically intervening prosecution’ will be overshadowed by the greater stigma of ‘economy-killing prosecution.’”
He also emphasized, “That is why I am telling the prosecution to withdraw the appeal, not to abandon legal justice.” In other words, his argument is that “all 19 charges were acquitted in both the first and second trials, and since the person who investigated and prosecuted (current Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Bok-hyun) even apologized, it is appropriate for the prosecution to exercise restraint.”
Earlier, on the 6th, Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, bowed his head and apologized to the public regarding the acquittal of Chairman Lee, who was investigated and prosecuted by Lee Bok-hyun as the head prosecutor of the Economic Crime Division at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
Meanwhile, the prosecution, dissatisfied with the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 13’s decision to acquit Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong on charges related to the unfair merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries and accounting fraud at Samsung BioLogics, filed an appeal to the Supreme Court on the 7th.
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