DP leader reverses his position again

Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung has reversed his earlier pledge to give up lawmakers’ privilege of not being arrested while legislative sessions are underway. His about-turn came just a day before a motion endorsing the prosecution’s request for his arrest warrant was to be put to a vote in the National Assembly on Thursday. The about-face raises strong doubts on the sincerity of Lee’s “hunger strike” — 21 days so far — to call for “the restoration of democracy.”

On Wednesday, Lee wrote on Facebook, “If the motion [to arrest me] is endorsed, it will attach wings to the prosecution’s manipulated investigation. […] If the noose is put on the wrong person, it must be broken.” His comment is nothing but a plea for help from members of the majority party to vote against the motion.

The DP leader insisted on his innocence in his alleged involvement in the suspicious Baekhyeon-dong redevelopment project and the dubious remittance of $8 million to North Korea apparently aimed to help him visit Pyongyang. Despite his denials, the prosecution’s request for his arrest is concrete. The arrest warrant branded the $8 million Lee reportedly had pressured Ssangbangwool SBW Group Chairman Kim Seong-tae to send to North Korea a “serious crime threatening the security of the Korean Peninsula and the rest of the world,” because “the money can be used to advance the North’s armaments.” The prosecution said the crime deserves a sentence of life imprisonment. The warrant also included powerful testimonies that one of his close subordinates had reported to him about the progress in the Gyeonggi provincial government’s North Korea project on as many as 17 occasions.

If Lee is really innocent, he must appear before the court to get objective judgment. Even if the legislature passes the motion, it doesn’t mean he will immediately be arrested. Lee must clear all the doubts in the court after asking colleagues to approve the motion. Otherwise, he cannot avoid criticism for shifting his position at the last minute.

A number of lawmakers close to him have urged peers to reject the motion today. Some of them opened a general meeting of DP legislators to fight against the prosecution. Core members of Lee supporters joined the move by threatening to “cut the political life of DP lawmakers who voted for his arrest” by methodically tracking those who approved it.

Earlier, the DP submitted a motion to pull the prime minister from his post to counter the prosecution’s request for Lee’s arrest. In a weird turn of events, the two disparate motions are put to a vote today. Lee’s judicial risks and his politics of confrontation will leave indelible scars on the history of our democracy.