Lee Jae-myung urges President Yoon Suk Yeol to sit down with DP

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung responds to a reporter's question during his New Year's press conference at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung on Thursday called on President Yoon Suk Yeol to hold talks with the liberal opposition, warning that “state affairs will continue to be in shambles and remain in crisis” until the government and People Power Party (PPP) engage the DP.

The DP chairman, who was the party’s candidate during last year’s presidential race, also denounced the state prosecution service as “puppets” of the administration for investigating him in an alleged case of bribery and business quid pro quo involving the football club of Seongnam, Gyeonggi, where he was mayor from 2010 to 2018.

Lee made the remarks during a New Year’s press conference at the National Assembly on Thurday, just two days after he was questioned by prosecutors over suspicions he granted favors to six businesses in return for their donations to Seongnam FC.

The DP chairman called on the Yoon administration and the PPP to “stop its practice of handling state affairs unilaterally and violently” and end their efforts “to annihilate the main opposition party.”

Lee is the first sitting leader of a major political party to have been questioned by prosecutors since the country became a democracy in 1987.

The Democratic Party claims that the probe is politically motivated.

“Right now, the state prosecution service is nothing more than a puppet of [those in] power. It has given its investigative and indicting powers over [to the government] without considering fairness and rationality,” Lee said, accusing prosecutors of “engaging in politics instead of investigating.”

Although Lee argued that lawmakers and the president should not be immune to arrest when he was running in the presidential election, he demurred when asked by a reporter if he would agree with ending parliamentary immunity to criminal arrest.

“I believe that [lawmakers] should be subject to a just and appropriate exercise of that power. If police act in accordance with the law, I would submit to that, but if police behave like thugs wearing police uniforms, my opinion would be different,” Lee said.

The DP chairman also called on the Yoon administration to stop “handling state affairs unilaterally.”

“The Yoon government has not held a conversation with the leader of the main opposition party during the past eight months after taking power,” Lee said, warning that “if the government implements its so-called three reforms, it will face serious backlash without any [beneficial] results.”

The three reforms refer to President Yoon’s pledge to overhaul the country’s pension, labor market and education system.

While there have been no meetings between the president and the DP chairman since Yoon took office in May last year, Lee skipped the president’s New Year meeting with politicians on Jan. 2, citing an existing engagement.

Lee also claimed that the president had exacerbated existing economic woes and security concerns by talking tough on North Korea in response to recent provocations, including a drone infiltration and over sixty missile launches last year.

“The president’s risky bombs of words to mask his incompetence in handling security matters has only deepened people’s concerns and market instability.”

During the press conference, Lee not only proposed 30 trillion won ($24 billion) in new government projects to lower the cost of living, but also a constitutional amendment that would change the current maximum single five-year presidential term to two four-year terms.

The DP would table the proposal in March, Lee said.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]