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| Rep. Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, pauses before answering reporters' questions near the party's headquarters in Seoul, Monday, as prosecutors search the Institute for Democracy, a think tank. Yonhap |
Prosecutors search headquarters of Democratic Party of Korea
By Jung Min-ho
When prosecutors were investigating key officials at Seongnam Development Corp. last year for alleged corrupt business deals with property developers in the past, Lee Jae-myung, the city's former mayor, denied close ties with any of them.
Speaking to reporters on Oct. 3, 2021, Rep. Lee, now the chief of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), had said that only a few people, such as Kim Yong and Jeong Jin-sang, deserved to be called his "close aides."
It was revealed Monday that prosecutors imposed an overseas travel ban on Jeong, his vice chief of staff for political affairs. This travel ban comes only two days after Kim, deputy director of the Institute for Democracy, the party's in-house think tank, was arrested on charges of receiving bribes investigators believe were used to finance Lee's election campaign.
Prosecutors appear to be targeting Lee as they are now looking into the sources of his political funding.
The same day, prosecutors raided the think tank, which is inside the party's headquarters. It was their second search attempt after they returned empty-handed last week due to fierce resistance from DPK officials.
Lee has said that the prosecutors' investigation amounts to "political retaliation." He implored the public "to protect democracy" as he entered his office.
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| Investigators carry boxes as they walk toward the office of the Institute for Democracy, a think tank located inside the headquarters of the Democratic Party of Korea, in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap |
Prosecutors charge that Kim, who served as the head of Lee's campaign for the DPK presidential primary, received 840 million won ($590,000) from property developers who allegedly received favors during Lee's tenure as Seongnam mayor (2010-18).
Yoo Dong-gyu, former acting president of Seongnam Development Corp., told prosecutors that Kim asked him for 2 billion won in February 2021 for Lee's election campaign.
Yoo later told Nam Wook, a key figure in the development project, about the demand. Nam then collected more than 840 million won and gave it to Kim through Yoo and another alleged accomplice at the public enterprise, Jung Min-yong.
Nam is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the corruption scandal centering on a little-known asset management firm, Hwacheon Daeyu, which rewarded certain investors with massive profits from a development project in Seongnam's Daejang District. Nam reportedly made more than 100 billion won after investing only about 87 million won.
Kim has denied all of the accusations, according to his lawyer.
Jeong, a former Seongnam official under Lee, is suspected of taking bribes from developers, including Yoo and Nam, possibly for inside information and helping them build connections with city policymakers, including the former mayor.
In a separate case, Jeong is also being investigated over his alleged involvement in attracting 5.5 billion won worth of donations from Doosan Engineering & Construction between 2016 and 2018 for Seongnam FC, the city's football club, in return for altering the usage purpose of the land the company had owned in the city. Investigators suspect administrative favors would have been impossible without support from Lee, who was also the head of the football club at the time, and that some of the money was misappropriated.
DPK lawmakers, who hold a majority in the National Assembly, declared that any possibility of their cooperation with the Yoon Suk-yeol administration is over, accusing the president of directing the investigation "to kill the opposition party."
The party also threatened to boycott a budget speech that Yoon is scheduled to give at the Assembly on Tuesday unless he agrees to an independent counsel investigation it proposed earlier. The proposal was immediately rejected by the ruling People Power Party, which dismissed it as the DPK's attempt to delay the investigation.
Rep. Oh Yeong-hwan, the DPK's floor spokesman, accused the Yoon administration of stepping up efforts only for "political revenge," while overlooking the economic slump affecting the lives of ordinary people.
It remains to be seen if the message will resonate with the public. Two former presidents ― Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye ― were convicted of corruption soon after Moon Jae-in was elected president in 2017. While Park was pardoned years later, Lee, 80, is still behind bars.
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