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A methodical move to reverse judicial risks

Published: 03 Jun. 2024, 20:07

The majority Democratic Party (DP) on Monday submitted a special motion to reinvestigate the suspicious remittance of $8 million to North Korea by SBW Group’s former chairman, Kim Sung-tae. Kim is suspected of sending $5 million to the North in 2018 at the request of former Vice Gyeonggi Governor Lee Hwa-young to proceed with a smart farm project pushed by the province and sending another $3 million in return for then-Governor Lee Jae-myung’s visit to Pyongyang. The prosecution requested a 42-month jail term for Kim and a 15-year jail term for the former vice governor on charges of National Security Act violation. Lee Jae-myung, the current DP leader, faces the charge of offering a bribe to North Korea through a third party. As his own political fate depends on the results of the ongoing trials over his two allies, the DP can hardly avoid criticisms for its calculated move to defend its boss.

The DP claims that the prosecution arbitrarily transformed SBW’s stock price manipulation case into a case of illegal remittance of money to the North. The DP also contends that the prosecution cajoled the vice governor into accepting his crime in order to draw the DP leader to the case. But prosecutors outright denied such allegations. The prosecution linked such accusations to the vice governor’s need to shake the legitimacy of the prosecution’s investigations and court trials. But the majority party hurriedly submitted the special motion just four days before the bench delivers its first ruling on Friday. That upsets the integrity of our normal judicial system.

After submitting two special motions aimed at probing into the presidential office’s alleged pressure on the military investigation on the suspicious death of a Marine and looking into several suspicions around first lady Kim Keon-hee, the DP is preparing to submit other special motions, including one aimed at attacking the prosecution for its “politically-motivated investigation” of the Daejang-dong scandal involving the DP leader. The party prepares to launch an aggressive counterattack against the government through the appointment of special prosecutors to effectively turn the tide. If President Yoon Suk Yeol vetoes such motions, the DP can denounce the president for his habitual resort to his veto power.

The DP even plans to revise its party constitution to help its leader overcome apparent disadvantages from his own judicial risks, extend his chairmanship of the party, and eventually run for president in 2027. The controversy over Lee Jae-myung’s privatization of the majority party is nothing new. The party seems to have forgotten a stern punishment from the voters for the arrogance of political parties whether they are a governing party or an opposition.