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| Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, speaks during his visit to a traditional market in Andong City, North Gyeongsang Province, Thursday. Yonhap |
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), was summoned by the prosecution to answer questions about his alleged involvement in a bribery scandal when he was serving as mayor of Seongnam City.
The prosecution reportedly notified Lee on Wednesday to appear at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office next week as a suspect to answer questions. According to the prosecution, Lee is suspected of having conspired with a former CEO of Doosan Engineering and Construction identified only by his surname, Lee and a former Seongnam City official identified by his last name Kim, to collect 5 billion won in donations for Seongnam FC in return for permitting the company to develop its 9,917 square meter green belt land in the city, for commercial purposes.
In the indictment, the prosecution wrote that the three, namely then Mayor Lee, then Doosan CEO and city official Kim, collaborated to change the land use in exchange for a hefty donation for the city-run football club.
Rep. Lee reacted furiously to the prosecution, pointing to President Yoon Suk-yeol as the man behind the investigation.
"The Yoon government is insane and unfair," Lee said during a speech at a market in the southeastern city of Andong.
He was visiting his hometown city as part of his nationwide listening tour.
"It seems that they are scared of me. For years, they have tried to invent something to find fault with me but all their efforts went in vain," he said. "All those years when I was in public service, I have been targeted and investigated by the prosecution, the police and other law enforcement agencies. During the past decade when I served first as mayor of Seongnam and then as Gyeonggi Province governor, my office had been seized, probed and inspected. But I survived and I am now here."
Lee accused President Yoon of political revenge regarding himself and the opposition DPK party.
"Is it the right time for the president to focus on political retaliation and try to destroy the main opposition party?" he said.
Lee ran unsuccessfully in the March 9 presidential election on the DPK's ticket. He was defeated by then-conservative People Power Party (PPP) candidate Yoon with a razor-thin margin of 0.75 percentage points.
After President Yoon took office on May 10, the prosecution initiated investigations into several corruption cases that involved Rep. Lee. The massive land development project in Daejang-dong is one of the corruption cases in which the prosecution is zeroing in on the DPK leader.
Lee and several other DPK members alleged that those investigations are politically motivated. But the prosecution has denied this.
Rep. Park Hong-keun, the DPK floor leader, said his party members will discuss ways to handle the prosecution's summons of Rep. Lee. "I am sure that Chairman Lee will think about how he will respond to the call, but other party members will also sit down to share their thoughts," he told reporters.
Park went on to say that the investigation of the DPK chairman is nothing more than a political vendetta.
