DP chairman to appear at prosecutors for third time on Friday

Lee Jae-myung, Democratic Party chairman, in meeting with victims of jeonse fraud in Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Democratic Party (DP) Chairman Lee Jae-myung will appear at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office at around 11 a.m. Friday to answer questions regarding the Daejang-dong development project, a DP spokesperson said Tuesday.

This will be his third visit to the prosecutors and the second regarding the Daejang-dong investigation.

The first visit was to answer questions regarding corporate sponsorship of Seongnam city’s football club when he was the city’s mayor.

Ahn Ho-young, the DP senior spokesperson, said Tuesday that the DP had repeatedly requested that the visit be made on a weekend as Lee was busy working on the party’s and national affairs during the week.

“However, the prosecutors stubbornly demanded the visit to be made during a week,” Ahn said.

“The prosecutors’ attitude in demanding a visit during the week while ignoring how the DP chair needs to attend to the people’s livelihood is regretful,” Ahn added. “The true face of this government is that it and the People Power Party are ignoring the people’s livelihoods, passing on that role to the Democratic Party, even as they obstruct the DP's work through the prosecutors.”

While Lee made his first visit to the prosecutors’ office this year on a Friday, he made the second one on a Saturday.

The Daejang-dong case resolves around an alleged profiteering scheme when Lee was Seongnam’s mayor. Lee is accused of creating a massive political slush fund using the profits generated from the development.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]