hankyoreh

Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the top opposition Democratic Party, speaks at a press briefing held at the National Assembly in Seoul on Jan. 30. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

“I’m paying the price for losing the presidential election,” said Lee Jae-myung, head of South Korea’s main opposition party, on Tuesday, while announcing he would once again appear for questioning at the behest of prosecutors regarding alleged kickbacks in development projects during his tenure as Seongnam mayor.

As leader of the Democratic Party, Lee seems to be signaling his intention to power through the prosecutors’ case against him by cooperating with them even as his party cranks up its fight against the administration by calling for a special investigation into first lady Kim Keon-hee and announcing street protests.

Lee said in a press conference at the National Assembly Monday that the prosecutors’ request for another round of questioning “is really not a good look, but I think that, in the end, I’m paying the price for losing the presidential election because of my personal shortcomings.”

“It’s insulting and unfair, but as the defeated party [in the presidential election], I’ll go when [the prosecutors] ask me to,” Lee went on to say.

“I lost the election because of my inadequacies, and that defeat has resulted in regression in various areas of society and great hardship for the people. My getting kicked around and trampled on by the winner doesn’t compare to the hardship suffered by the Korean people and the immense damage caused by regression in Korean society.”

When the public prosecutors said they needed to ask Lee more questions following a round of questioning on Saturday, Lee’s camp had initially said he wouldn’t agree to another round of questioning.

Lee strongly criticized the prosecutors’ behavior in their investigation, asserting that “for some elements of the prosecution service, maintaining political power itself has become the goal.”

“Ultimately, I’m going to be indicted on these charges. They’re currently laying the groundwork for indicting me. Not only will they indict me whatever explanation I provide, but the very point of the questioning is to derail any reasonable explanation,” Lee said.

In addition, Lee said that the prosecutors had deliberately delayed the questioning on Saturday so they could bring him in for another round. “These are political actions aimed at humiliating me and sowing doubt in the public,” he said. “This is a total abrogation of the prosecutors’ commitment to political neutrality.”

Lee also had a retort ready for predictions that the prosecutors would soon ask a court for an arrest warrant.

“There’s no evidence to support the charges, no chance of me running away, and no way for me to destroy evidence even if I wanted to. I just have no idea why I’d need to be put under arrest.”

“The only reason I can think of is that I’m the head of the opposition party,” he added.

“Back in the Joseon dynasty, people who were charged with treason would be tortured until they confessed by way of manufacturing evidence. But nowadays the prosecutors indict people on hearsay without even needing any evidence,” Lee said.

By Um Ji-won, staff reporter; Shim Wu-sam, staff reporter

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