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Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, addresses the press outside the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Jan. 28 after appearing for interrogation in relation to the Daejang development scandal. (Yonhap)

After appearing before prosecutors for questioning in connection with alleged preferential treatment in development projects in Seongnam’s Daejang neighborhood and Wirye New Town, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung said the prosecutors were “engaging in politics, not an investigation.”

While prosecutors are maintaining that further questioning of Lee is necessary, the Democratic Party leadership agreed Sunday that Lee should not appear before prosecutors again as they engage in what is being described as a “harassment-based investigation.”

Arriving at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office at 10:22 am on Saturday — normally a holiday — Lee left the building at around 11 pm that day. This came 18 days after he appeared before the Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office on Jan. 10 in connection with a case involving support funds for the Seongnam Football Club.

After being questioned, Lee said, “I can’t shake the feeling that [the prosecutors] are manufacturing things with the goal of an indictment.”

The prosecutors believe that Lee is liable for breach of trust for his actions as mayor of Seongnam during the period beginning in 2013 and 2014 when the Daejang and Wirye development projects were taking place under a joint government-private approach. In their view, he is responsible for signing off as a decision-maker on an approach in which profits that should have gone to the city of Seongnam went to private operators instead.

But in a 33-page written statement submitted to the prosecutors, Lee insisted that the breach of trust allegations were bogus, stressing that in the Daejang case, he had acquired more profits for the city by assigning an additional burden of 112 billion won (US$91 million) on private operators.

He also said he substituted the written response rather than giving individual answers to the prosecutors’ questions.

Before entering the prosecutors’ offices, Lee described them as the “worst example of the Yoon Suk-yeol ‘dictatorship of the prosecutors’ administration privatizing state authority to eliminate political enemies.”

Citing the need for “additional questioning,” the prosecutors demanded a second appearance by Lee, without specifying a date.

In a meeting held behind closed doors on Sunday evening, the Democratic Party’s highest leadership agreed that Lee should not submit to more questioning by prosecutors.

“The majority view was that the investigation is intended largely for harassment and shaming, and that Lee Jae-myung should not attend further,” said senior spokesperson An Ho-young, adding that Lee “listened to what they were saying.”

The Democrats’ leadership also made plans for action at the party level, including the creation of a “headquarters for countermeasures against suppression by the Yoon Suk-yeol ‘prosecutorial dictatorship’” to hold a “public report meeting” in Seoul.

By Lim Jae-woo, staff reporter; Jeon Gwang-joon, staff reporter

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