‘Fasting’ Lee Jae-myung, arrest motion imminent… Choi Kang-wook lost his position as a member of the ‘Like Association’,
‘It is true that he received 20 envelopes of money’,
and the party leadership was ‘embarrassed’ by Yoon Gwan-seok’s change of position. It was ‘a hellish Monday’ for the Democratic Party of Korea. This is because the double negative factors surrounding former and current members of the Democratic Party continued the previous day (18th). Prosecutors requested an arrest warrant targeting Representative Lee Jae-myung, who fainted during a fast, and Choi Kang-wook, a pro-Lee Jae-myung group member, lost his seat on charges of issuing a false internship certificate to the son of former Minister Cho Kuk. Meanwhile, Rep. Yoon Kwan-seok, who was arrested and indicted for the ‘Democratic National Convention money envelope distribution’ incident, overturned his claim of innocence in court on the 18th and admitted to some of the charges. Seven months ahead of the general election, the party leadership’s concerns appear to be growing as ‘judicial risks’ occur sporadically within the party.
Lee Jae-myung’s arrest… Choi Kang-wook is OUT
According to the legal community on the 19th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Eom Hee-jun) issued an arrest warrant the day before for Representative Lee, who is suspected of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust), instigation of perjury, etc. (18th) Requested. The ball passed to the National Assembly as President Yoon Seok-yeol approved Representative Lee’s request for consent to arrest on this day. The National Assembly is expected to vote on the arrest motion on the 21st or 25th.
The Democratic Party predicted a hard-line response, suspicious of the prosecution’s “repressive investigation.” However, the inside is complicated. There is a difference of opinion among lawmakers over whether to ‘pass’ or ‘reject’ the arrest motion right now. Although the negative vote seems to be gaining ground, especially among the pro-Lee Jae-myeong faction leaders, considering that there was a ‘departure vote’ when the first motion for arrest was made last February, there is a high possibility that the motion for arrest will be passed. The non-Jae-myung world is protesting that the pro-myeong world is trying to be ‘bulletproof’, recalling that Representative Lee declared ‘giving up the privilege of non-arrest’.
Representative Lee’s arrest warrant became a fuse, causing internal strife, and he even lost an ‘ally’. Rep. Choi Kang-wook, a key member of the ‘Like Association’, a group of pro-Myung faction lawmakers, lost his seat as a member of the National Assembly. On the 18th, the Supreme Court’s plenary body (Chief Justice Oh Gyeong-mi) confirmed the lower court’s sentence of ‘8 months in prison and 2 years of probation’ in the appeal trial of Rep. Choi, who was indicted on charges of issuing a false internship certificate to the son of former Minister Cho Kuk. Rep. Choi continued to insist on a ‘manipulated investigation by the prosecution’, but the court did not accept this. In fact, the prosecution won the decision.
Some in the opposition party say that for the Democratic Party leadership, Rep. Choi’s loss of his seat is a more painful outcome than Representative Lee Jae-myung’s request for an arrest warrant. Ahead of the National Assembly audit, we lost Rep. Choi, the party’s representative fighter and sniper. Meanwhile, there is an interpretation that the fact that the ‘Cho Kuk Incident’, which was an opportunity to change the public sentiment among the moderates, is being talked about again is a disadvantageous situation for the opposition party ahead of the general election.
Lee Jun-han, a professor at the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at Incheon National University, said, “Representative Lee Jae-myung is also perceived to be fasting without justification due to his own judicial risks. With Rep. Choi losing his seat as a member of the National Assembly, the Democratic Party has been stigmatized as an immoral group.” He added, “In particular, Rep. Choi’s case is ‘ “It is related to the ‘Cook Kuk incident.’ It is an issue directly related to fairness, so it will be a huge negative news for the Democratic Party,” he predicted.
Is the ‘money envelope’ distribution true? Yoon Kwan-seok’s ‘innocence’ overturned
The ‘convention envelope distribution’ incident surrounding the Democratic Party is also reemerging as a major negative news for the opposition party. Independent lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok, who was arrested and indicted as a key suspect, overturned his claims of innocence in court on the 18th and admitted to only a reduced amount of his charges. Rep. Yoon is on trial on charges of requesting and receiving 20 envelopes of money from primary campaign officials in late April 2021 to help former Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil, then the candidate, be elected.
Rep. Yoon’s side completely denied the charges during the prosecution’s investigation. But as his trial began, he changed his position. However, Rep. Yoon claimed that contrary토토사이트 to the indictment that he received 60 million won, 3 million won per envelope, he received 20 million won, 1 million won per envelope. in other words,
Rep. Yoon’s confession also put the Democratic Party leadership in an awkward position. So far, the Democratic Party has suspected that the controversy over the ‘national convention money envelope’ was a ‘manipulated investigation’ by the prosecution. Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Kun-young said in a radio interview last April, “I don’t think that will happen at the national convention,” and “What kind of time is this in the world, with envelopes of money going around?” Kim Eun-kyung, former Democratic Party Innovation Committee Chairman, said in a media interview last June about the rejection of the motion to arrest Representatives Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Seong-man, who were involved in the money envelope incident, “I think the money envelope incident may have been created (by the prosecution). I will look at the data and make a decision. “He said.
According to Representative Yoon’s statement, there are many Democratic Party members who received ‘money envelopes’. There is also a possibility that the number of targets of judicial processing within the party will increase further. It is known that the prosecution presented the names of several active lawmakers suspected of being the recipients during the interrogation of the suspect before Rep. Yoon’s arrest. Prosecutors are continuing their work to clearly identify these fraudulent lawmakers.
Meanwhile, there are more than 10 Democratic lawmakers currently on trial on criminal charges. ▲Ki Dong-min and Lee Su-jin (receiving bribes related to the Lime incident) ▲Kim Gyeong-hyeop (illegal land transaction) ▲Noh Woong-rae (receiving illegal political fund bribes) ▲Lim Jong-seong (violation of the Public Official Election Act). Reps. Kim Byeong-wook, Park Beom-gye, and Park Joo-min were also indicted on charges of joint assault during the 2019 fast-track implementation of the Corruption Investigation Agency Act.