"Lee Sungyun Pointed a Sword at the President by Recommending the Second Special Prosecutor"
"Jung Chungrae Must Apologize to the President and Party Members"
On February 13, Lee Geontae, a lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea, urged Representative Jung Chungrae to "immediately cancel the appointment and sincerely apologize to the president and party members" after Jung appointed Supreme Council member Lee Sungyun as chair of the party’s Special Committee on Responding to Politically Motivated Prosecutorial Manipulation and Indictments.
In a statement released that day, Assemblyman Lee argued, "It is an act of disregarding our party members to appoint Assemblyman Lee Sungyun, who continues to serve openly as a Supreme Council member without a single word of apology even after recommending, as a candidate for the second special prosecutor not long ago, the defense lawyer of a person who had pointed a sword at the president."
He went on to say, "It is difficult to understand this from a common-sense perspective," and demanded, "Withdraw the appointment immediately."
Recently, the Democratic Party recommended attorney Jeon Junchul as special prosecutor for the so-called "second comprehensive special counsel" investigation. However, controversy erupted when it became known that in 2023 Jeon had joined the defense team of former Ssangbangwool Chairman Kim Sungtae, who was on trial over the "illegal money transfer to North Korea" case. After it was further revealed that Supreme Council member Lee had been the one to recommend Jeon, some within the party began insisting that Lee should take responsibility and step down from his position on the Supreme Council.
Earlier, the Democratic Party replaced Assemblyman Han Junho with Supreme Council member Lee Sungyun as chair of the Special Committee on Responding to Politically Motivated Prosecutorial Manipulation and Indictments. The existing special committee overseeing the three major special counsel investigations (the insurrection case, the Kim Keonhee case, and the death of a Marine on duty) changed its name to the Special Committee on Responding to the Second Comprehensive Special Counsel and replaced its chair from Assemblywoman Jeon Hyunhee to Supreme Council member Kang Deukgu.
This is because Assemblyman Han and Assemblywoman Jeon are running in the June 3 local elections for governor of Gyeonggi Province and mayor of Seoul, respectively.
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