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During a meeting with the press on Sept. 4., Kim Seung-won, a Democratic Party lawmaker who chairs the party’s legal committee, calls for an investigation into Kim Keon-hee for alleged stock price manipulation. (pool photo)

The Democratic Party is launching an all-out response to prosecutors’ summons of its leader Lee Jee-myung, which the party described as a “full-scale declaration of war” by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.

The party is calling for an investigation of Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, insisting that she is the one prosecutors should be looking into for her alleged involvement in manipulating the stock prices of Deutsch Motors. It also went on the counteroffensive against Yoon himself, claiming that his denials of allegations during his presidential campaign amounted to the “spreading of falsehoods.”

Meeting with the press Sunday at the National Assembly building in Seoul, the party’s secretary general, Cho Jeong-sik, said, “The [prosecutors’] summons of Lee Jae-myung is President Yoon Suk-yeol’s full-scale declaration of a war against the main opposition party.”

“It’s enough to evoke associations with the Korean Central Intelligence Agency’s Kim Dae-jung incident,” he added.

Cho’s remarks drew parallels between Lee’s summons and the 1973 abduction of then-opposition party leader and future South Korean President Kim Dae-jung by KCIA agents in Tokyo.

He also complained about prosecutors “applying their bluntest swords by letting Kim Keon-hee off the hook for all the different allegations against her, while applying a much sharper blade in their investigation of the opposition party leader.”

“It’s the typical example of a double standard investigation, where they mean to get [Lee] by hook or by crook,” he said.

During a meeting with the press on Sept. 4., Kim Seung-won, a Democratic Party lawmaker who chairs the party’s legal committee, calls for an investigation into Kim Keon-hee for alleged stock price manipulation. (pool photo)

In particular, the Democratic Party noted that the transcripts of a telephone conversation between Kim and a securities company employee, which were made public in a hearing on the Deutsch Motors stock price manipulation case, showed Kim directly ordering the purchasing of stock. The party sees this as circumstantial evidence suggesting Kim’s active involvement in the manipulation.

“The public believes that Kim Keon-hee is the one who should be getting perp walked,” Cho said.

Kim Seung-won, who heads the Democratic Party’s legal committee, said the “indictment and punishment of Kim Keon-hee now appears inevitable.”

Yoon also came under fire for giving a “false account” in connection with the stock price manipulation allegations.

During his election campaign, Yoon insisted that his wife had cut off ties on May 20, 2010, with an individual surnamed Lee who was part of the group involved in the market abuse. But the content of the transcript contradicted his explanation, as a telephone conversation on June 16, 2010, shows Kim giving orders to “not let any except me and [Lee] engage in transactions.”

The Democratic Party said that if Lee Jae-myung is to be viewed as having “spread falsehoods” with his statements made while offering explanations on the allegations concerning development scandals in the Seongnam neighborhoods of Daejang and Baekhyeon, then Yoon can be accused of the same thing.

While sitting presidents cannot be indicted, the party’s message appeared to be an emphasis on the biased and unjust nature of the prosecutors’ investigation of Lee.

At a general meeting of lawmakers Monday, the party planned to discuss potentially making calls for a special prosecutor on the Kim Keon-hee allegations into part of its platform.

With the regular session of the National Assembly having only recently started, the general view in the party is that it’s still too early to demand a special prosecutor investigation. But there is no ruling out the possibility of public calls for an investigation gaining momentum if prosecutors do go ahead with indicting Lee.

“Since the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has declared all-out war, not just against Lee Jae-myung but against the Democratic Party as a whole, the Democratic Party will be responding to that,” Cho warned, adding that the party “plans to establish the consensus and counsel within the party at the general lawmakers’ meeting.”

Also expected at the general meeting is a survey of party opinions on whether Lee Jae-myung should appear before the prosecutors. With prosecutors giving the party leader a summons date on Tuesday, opinions remain divided within the party on whether Lee Jae-myung should appear before them.

Those who support his attendance have stressed that since the case is not a matter of corruption, Lee Jae-myung should present himself honorably and emphasize the politically retaliatory nature of the investigation. Others argue that he has no reason to cooperate with a summons by prosecutors that is meant to “shame” him.

By Shim Wu-sam, staff reporter

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